Information sources at play: The apparatus of knowledge production in contraceptive counselling

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this article is to suggest that the information interaction between midwives and young women during counselling meetings about contraceptives can be approached as loci of knowledge production and discuss the consequences this has for the understanding of information practices. The overarching question is: how is knowledge produced during the interaction between the midwives and the young women and what roles do their bodies play in this interaction?

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative methods inspired by ethnography were used, including conversation transcripts of ten counselling meetings, 19 interviews and participatory observations at five youth centres in the South of Sweden. The study took place over a period of nine months. The feministic conceptual framework presented by Donna Haraway concerning knowledge production was used to analyse the material.

Findings

As they meet, both midwives and young women are information sources to each other, and the information conveyed is negotiated in both words and actions. Both parties are involved in a careful negotiation to establish what information is needed and appropriate for the situation at hand, but the midwives have the final say. However, the midwives balance between exerting a generalised expertise and entering in a situated dialogue with the young women.

Practical implications

This study may contribute to awareness among information professionals of counselling meetings as information interactions where both words and actions are important as well as the inequality of power in that interaction.

Originality/value

This study contributes to library and information studies by broadening the understanding of what an information source may be and by exploring the usefulness of feminist researcher Donna Haraway's analytical tools for understanding information interactions as knowledge producing negotiations.

Citation

Rivano Eckerdal, J. (2012), "Information sources at play: The apparatus of knowledge production in contraceptive counselling", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 68 No. 3, pp. 278-298. https://doi.org/10.1108/00220411211225548