INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information Technology in Pregnancy



Information Technology in Pregnancy

Background

Pregnancy and birthing are both natural physiological processes and socially and culturally mediated experiences. Cross-cultural differences in the expectations and practices of pregnant women highlight the social construction of reproduction. Race, class, region, and other differences among women shape our access and interest in medical and technological interventions, our employment rates, and our health and well-being during pregnancy (Douglas, 2004). Structural and cultural forces also shape reproductive rates, including age at first pregnancy, number of pregnancies, chances for live births, and termination of pregnancies. Furthermore, while women experience pregnancy and childbirth as physical changes to their bodies, the meanings derived from the experience are influenced by cultural discourses, expectations, and access or lack of access to important resources (Spar, 2006).

Extracting the pregnancy related information is always difficult, because everybody do not possess the specialized knowledge. We are looking for the possible solutions to provide pregnancy related information, specially to the pregnant teens through the internet.

Criteria

In this paper we are working with a group of pregnant teens in a community setting. The teens suggest that a blog (or another social networking tool of your choice) would be useful in communicating pregnancy related information and providing support for group members. We have to analyze the pros and cons of this suggestion and then make a decision that whether this suggestion is viable or not?

Definition

A Web-based social networking Blog is a network place that allow users to share information, content, interact and develop communities around similar interests. The examples of such Web-based social networking blogs are websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Orkut etc.

Social Networking and Virtual Environments are two popular ways of socializing online. There are minimal levels of supervision in social networks and virtual environments. Social networks allow users to set privacy levels to protect their personal information, but few do. Most virtual environments employ moderators to keep out offensive topics or harassment, but the size of these virtual worlds, as well as the number of users, makes supervision very difficult (Thede and Sewell, 2009).

Problem Statement

Many teenage girls are embarrassed to ask for guidance when it comes to proper birth control. This can lead to haphazard decisions that may involve using over-the-counter methods that prove to be ineffective. In addition, lack of education about how to use birth control correctly can lead to mishaps. (Hebda and Czar, 2009).

Some girls may be worried about their parents becoming angry if they are sexually active, which can interfere with communication significantly (Gordon, 2002). Getting proper physical examinations is an integral part of the process and many parents may fail to recognize that gynecological exam and consultation with a physician is necessary (Hertz, 2006).

In order to make the information available to all, we are evaluating a suggestion for a social networking blog which will provide all the necessary information regarding birth control and will address to the problems and queries by the users.

We have evaluated the pros and cons of our project and come to know about the following:

Strengths

For ...