Healthy Lifestyle Practices, Online Health Information-Seeking Behaviors, and Internet Usage Among Pregnant Women:...

Singapore is a multicultural society characterized by a diverse array of ethnic groups, including Chinese, Malay, Indians, and others. A considerable percentage of Singaporeans are active users of the internet. The internet has become a significant resource for health education, particularly for women who wish to learn about a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy. However, it is still unclear how pregnant women search for information online, particularly within specific groups.

This study aimed to explore the relationship between healthy lifestyle practices, online health information-seeking behaviors, and internet usage (IU) among 1905 pregnant women.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate the relationships between the appropriate intake of food groups, healthy diet practices (HD), internet for dietary advice (ID), internet for physical activity advice (IP), and IU, based on 5 hypotheses rooted in theoretical concepts. We used a multigroup SEM approach to examine these hypotheses across various ages, ethnicities, BMI, and categories of pregnant groups.

Our results confirmed 5 hypotheses, indicating significant relationships among the variables: appropriate intake of food groups was positively linked to HD (β=0.262; P<.001); HD was positively linked to ID (β=.168; P<.001); ID was positively linked to IP (β=0.185; P<.001); IP was positively linked to IU (β=0.190; P<.001); and HD was negatively linked to IU (β=-0.208; P<.001). The multigroup SEM analyses yielded significant differences in Hypotheses 2 and 3 when comparing different age groups (P=.009), BMI categories (P=.03), and number of pregnancies (P=.003).

Our findings offer valuable insights into developing customized online interventions aimed at encouraging a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy.