Parental Health Information Needs, Child-Health Literacy, and Use of Generative AI Among Parents of Children Aged 0 to 4 Years in France: A Cross-Sectional Study
- 1Doctolib
Abstract
Background: The first thousand days are a sensitive window for child health and social health inequalities. When routine care falls short, parents of young children turn to online sources and, recently, to generative artificial intelligence (AI). Evidence on their concerns, child-health literacy, and AI use is scarce. Objective: To describe health informational needs and concerns, child-health literacy, and use of AI for child-health questions, including differences by parental role and parity, among parents of young children. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, two anonymous self-administered online questionnaires were disseminated through a digital health application between May 12 and June 11, 2026, to French-speaking parents of at least one child aged 0 to 47 months in France. Questionnaire 1 covered unmet information needs, concerns across 16 topics, perceived intra-couple concordance, and confidence in routine care. Questionnaire 2 covered a four-item child-health literacy quiz and AI use (frequency, topics, 12-month trend, barriers, trust conditions, perceived effect on consultations, and disclosure). Results: In total, 12,634 parents responded (Questionnaire 1, n=5,410; Questionnaire 2, n=7,224), mostly mothers (94.6% and 92.9%). Most (61.8%) had searched for information without finding a clear, reliable answer, selecting a median of 4 (Interquartile range [IQR] 3-7) over 16 topics. Leading concerns were sleep (51.3%), nutrition (48.1%), and education (i.e., upbringing and behavior) (47.8%). Mothers were nearly twice as likely as fathers to select accident prevention (26.5% vs 16.3%) and parental mental health (38.7% vs 28.6%); first-time parents selected most topics more often than experienced parents, most markedly dental hygiene (43.8% vs 27.6%). The median child-health literacy score was 3 (IQR 3-4) on a 0-to-4 quiz, with 19.9% of parents scoring 2 or below; tooth-brushing age was the weakest item (68.4% correct). Mothers outscored fathers on every item. More than half of parents (54.2%) had used AI for a child-health question, 11.2% weekly; among those reporting a trend, 68.3% had increased AI use for child-health questions over the year and 6.2% decreased it. The main barriers to AI use were a preference for professionals (55.9%) and reliability concerns (48.7%); trust depended most on medical oversight of the tool (76.6%). AI use appeared additive, with 66.8% reporting no change in healthcare visit frequency. One third (35.5%) had told an AI something shared with neither a professional nor their network, rising to 64.1% among regular users. Conclusions: Parental informational needs were widespread and frequently unmet. AI has become a common and fast-rising source for child-health questions, at times a confidential one, used alongside rather than instead of professionals. Child-health literacy was generally high but uneven, with oral health the clearest gap. Strengths include the sample size and early-generative-AI timing; limitations include the cross-sectional design, self-report, digital-recruitment selection bias, and the small proportion of fathers.
Related
- Parental health literacy and advanced bone age among school-aged children with overweight or obesity: a cross-sectional study
- Association of low parental mental health literacy with adolescent depression and anxiety: a large-scale cross-sectional study in Guangdong, China
- Parental knowledge, attitudes, and discretionary practices regarding children’s dietary salt intake in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study
- Parental health literacy and multidimensional health education competencies in preschool children
- Use of Generative AI for Substance-Related Information Among Young Adults (Aged 18-29 Years) in the United States: Cross-Sectional Survey.
BibTeX
@misc{gavaland2026parental,
title = {{Parental Health Information Needs, Child-Health Literacy, and Use of Generative AI Among Parents of Children Aged 0 to 4 Years in France: A Cross-Sectional Study}},
author = {K. Gavaland and N. Barascud and A.-K. Edstedt Bonamy and P. Martinot},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.20.26365983},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.20.26365983v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Parental Health Information Needs, Child-Health Literacy, and Use of Generative AI Among Parents of Children Aged 0 to 4 Years in France: A Cross-Sectional Study
AU - K. Gavaland
AU - N. Barascud
AU - A.-K. Edstedt Bonamy
AU - P. Martinot
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.20.26365983
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.20.26365983v1
AB - Background: The first thousand days are a sensitive window for child health and social health inequalities. When routine care falls short, parents of young children turn to online sources and, recently, to generative artificial intelligence (AI). Evidence on their concerns, child-health literacy, and AI use is scarce. Objective: To describe health informational needs and concerns, child-health literacy, and use of AI for child-health questions, including differences by parental role and parity, among parents of young children. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, two anonymous self-administered online questionnaires were disseminated through a digital health application between May 12 and June 11, 2026, to French-speaking parents of at least one child aged 0 to 47 months in France. Questionnaire 1 covered unmet information needs, concerns across 16 topics, perceived intra-couple concordance, and confidence in routine care. Questionnaire 2 covered a four-item child-health literacy quiz and AI use (frequency, topics, 12-month trend, barriers, trust conditions, perceived effect on consultations, and disclosure). Results: In total, 12,634 parents responded (Questionnaire 1, n=5,410; Questionnaire 2, n=7,224), mostly mothers (94.6% and 92.9%). Most (61.8%) had searched for information without finding a clear, reliable answer, selecting a median of 4 (Interquartile range [IQR] 3-7) over 16 topics. Leading concerns were sleep (51.3%), nutrition (48.1%), and education (i.e., upbringing and behavior) (47.8%). Mothers were nearly twice as likely as fathers to select accident prevention (26.5% vs 16.3%) and parental mental health (38.7% vs 28.6%); first-time parents selected most topics more often than experienced parents, most markedly dental hygiene (43.8% vs 27.6%). The median child-health literacy score was 3 (IQR 3-4) on a 0-to-4 quiz, with 19.9% of parents scoring 2 or below; tooth-brushing age was the weakest item (68.4% correct). Mothers outscored fathers on every item. More than half of parents (54.2%) had used AI for a child-health question, 11.2% weekly; among those reporting a trend, 68.3% had increased AI use for child-health questions over the year and 6.2% decreased it. The main barriers to AI use were a preference for professionals (55.9%) and reliability concerns (48.7%); trust depended most on medical oversight of the tool (76.6%). AI use appeared additive, with 66.8% reporting no change in healthcare visit frequency. One third (35.5%) had told an AI something shared with neither a professional nor their network, rising to 64.1% among regular users. Conclusions: Parental informational needs were widespread and frequently unmet. AI has become a common and fast-rising source for child-health questions, at times a confidential one, used alongside rather than instead of professionals. Child-health literacy was generally high but uneven, with oral health the clearest gap. Strengths include the sample size and early-generative-AI timing; limitations include the cross-sectional design, self-report, digital-recruitment selection bias, and the small proportion of fathers.
ER -