Frontiers in Health Informatics www.ijmi.ir 2021; 10: 116 Open Access Copyright© 2022, Published by Frontiers in Health Informatics. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY) License (http://creativecommons.org/). The role of social networks in improving women's self-care during pregnancy and postpartum Fatemeh Dinari 1 , Roghayeh Ershad Sarabi 1 , Esmat Mashouf 2 , Khadijeh Moulaei 3 * 1 Medical Informatics Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran 2 Department of Health Information Technology, Varastegan Institute for Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran 3 PhD Candidate of Medical Informatics, Student Research Committee, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Article Info A B S T R A C T Article type: Research Introduction: Pregnant women are always faced with common physical and mental problems during pregnancy and postpartum. Self-care through social networks as an effective and influential factor in women's empowerment can improve their physical and mental health. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of social networks in improving women's self-care during pregnancy and postpartum. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted through a researcher-made questionnaire. We invited 285 pregnant women referred to Fasa medical centers (Shiraz, Iran). 110 pregnant women agreed to participate in the study. Finally, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 96 pregnant women entered the study and completed the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, percentage, frequency) and analysis of variance with SPSS 22. Results: Among the 44 roles of social networks in the self-care processes during pregnancy and postpartum "regular use of drugs and supplements" (4.43±0.81), "timely and regular tests (screening, etc.), ultrasounds during pregnancy" (4.22±0.90) and "communication with a public health expert in health homes" (4.07±0.97) were the most important roles. "Management, control and improvement of foot edema" (1.71±1.01), "Management and control of complications due to iron deficiency" (1.97±1.11) and "Social support" (2.25±1.17) were the least important roles. There was significance relationship between education level, job, duration of membership in social networks and duration of use of social networks during the one day with demographic characteristics. There was no significant relationship between age and children at home with demographic characteristics of women. Conclusion: Social networks as an important source of information can help to improve women's self-care processes during pregnancy and postpartum. Women during pregnancy and postpartum can easily find information about lifestyle, how to manage pregnancy side effects, manage psychological issues, and communicate with other pregnant women or treatment team by social networks. Article History: Received: 2022-04-09 Accepted: 2022-05-20 Published: 2022-05-31 * Corresponding author: Khadijeh Molaei PhD Candidate of Medical Informatics, Student Research Committee, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Email: moulaei.kh91@gmail.com Keywords: Social Networks Self-Care Pregnancy Postpartum Cite this paper as: Dinari F, Ershad Sarabi R, Mashouf E, Moulaei K. The role of social networks in improving women's self-care during pregnancy and postpartum. Front Health Inform. 2022; 11: 116. DOI: 10.30699/fhi.v11i1.371 INTRODUCTION Pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, always come with challenges despite being one of the most important, sensitive and beautiful times for women [1, 2]. During these periods, pregnant women experience physical and psychological changes such as gestational diabetes [3] blood pressure [4] nausea and vomiting [5], psychological illness and depression [6], obesity and overweight [7], sleep disorders, hormonal and sexual changes, preterm labor and preeclampsia [8-11]. In addition, during this period, pregnant women are associated with several risks such as endangering maternal health, abortion, stillbirth, preterm delivery, low birth weight, which entails heavy health care costs [12, 13].