Understanding the Information Needs of Young First Time Mothers from Areas of Mulitiple Deprivation

Information informs, guides, and empowers; but persistent barriers to access and use are societally divisive and as yet not fully understood, particularly amongst marginalised groups. Addressing enduring issues of information poverty, this project seeks to better understand the information needs of young first time mothers (YFTM) aged 21 or under from deprived areas, and associated barriers, by identifying and better understanding the: everyday information needs, seeking preferences, and challenges of YFTM; and the +/- factors influencing YFTM engagement with supportive services, and the appropriate assistive intervention points and methods.
The UK has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe, with associated conception rates correlated to multiple deprivation indexes. At risk groups are disadvantaged and disengaged, with significant health and wellbeing issues reported for both mother and child. Intervention programmes focus on early parenting needs with on-going holistic educational support considered key to long-term social inclusion/reintegration; however, there is evidence that mainstream services are failing to provide such support with significant unmet YFTM information needs reported, and overarching concerns raised regarding equity of access to information in both the physical and digital space.
A significant challenge in addressing holistic YFTM information needs relates to our limited understanding of young peoples' everyday information needs, preferences and seeking behavior generally, and more specifically, in impoverished and/or marginalized circumstances (limiting effective tailored service design and delivery considered key to access and use). There are complex and as yet not fully understood access barriers and internalised behavioural barriers to consider, the former influenced by digital divide and information literacy issues, the latter by social structures and norms; barriers that we believe put YFTM, and in turn their children, at greater risk of becoming impoverished information outsiders, living a stratified and disengaged existence. This project, recognising the importance of information access to economic and social mobility, and health and wellbeing; will comprehensively identify and investigate YFTM information needs, seeking preferences and challenges, and advance our understanding of the +/- factors influencing engagement of marginalised groups in both the physical and digital space, including appropriate assistive intervention points and strategies to not only meet immediate needs, but to foster independent lifelong learning and on-going social inclusion. Output will guide both policy (what to provide and from whom) and process (how to provide) of public information service providers (including collaborative aspects).
This project, which will bring together theories of social capital and social networks with theories and models of information behaviour to address issues of information poverty in both the physical and digital space; aligns with ESRC strategic priority influencing behaviour and informing interventions, and associated questions: how to understand behaviour and risks at multiple levels and a variety of contexts; how and why do behaviours change; and how does the interplay of child, family, community and wider society influence inequalities in wellbeing?

Addressing enduring issues of information poverty and evidence of inadequate public information service provision, this project seeks to comprehensively identify and understand young first time mother (YFTM) information needs, seeking preferences and challenges, and the +/- factors influencing engagement in both the physical and digital space.
Conducted in collaboration with Glasgow Life and Barnardo's, we see this as a major information poverty study, exploring how public information providers spanning (but not limited to) health, social care, education and the third sector can support YFTM and their children to prosper in the digital age. Recognising the importance of information access to economic and social mobility, and health and wellbeing; we will comprehensively identify everyday information needs, seeking preferences and challenges, and typologically map these and associated information requirements to existing public information services, incorporating gap analysis. By mapping the information needs of YFTM against services we can contribute significantly to the important discussion of how public information providers can support and empower YFTM information seeking, and help providers develop new YFTM-appropriate services. Bringing together theories of social capital and social networks with theories and models of information behaviour and information poverty, we will also (importantly) identify and investigate behavioural barriers, how they manifest in both the physical and digital space, and identify appropriate intervention points and strategies to inform future public policy and service provision. Of interest to academics and practitioners, findings and recommendations will advance our understanding of information poverty and associated self-protective behavior, and assist information service providers with evidence-based intervention amongst marginalised, disadvantaged and stigmatised groups beyond YFTM (for example: the unemployed, migrants/refugees, ex-offenders etc.). As Hepworth (2007) notes "we need to understand the phenomena in society i.e. cultural, environmental and social factors as well as individual factors that are linked to how people learn, their IB (information behaviour) and satisfying their information needs so that we can continue to develop successful information products and services". Importantly, output will guide both information policy (what to provide and from whom) and information process (how to provide), including identification of cross-agency collaborative aspects.

Activities to ensure potential beneficiaries (beyond collaborative partners) have the opportunity to engage with this research include: national media releases (and social media), project website discussion forums, two advisory groups (one professionals/practitioners, one young mothers), two open conferences at project milestones, and presentation and publication of output via appropriate conferences, journals, and professional magazines. PI/CI both have a track record of knowledge exchange, including: existing advisory engagements by both Glasgow Life and Barnardo's Scotland, and previous engagements with NHS Scotland, Scottish Education Department, and Scottish Arts Council; successive presentations at practitioner conferences including LILAC 2012, ILI 2011, ILI 2010, ILI 2009, and IFLA 2008; and a recent (April 2013) University Engage event bringing together a number of public and third sector organisations to discuss information access, use and management for health and well-being.