Everyday Triangulation within Challenging Informational and Legal Contexts: Exploring Everyday Triangulation in Individuals Considering Cannabis Use during Pregnancy or Lactation

ABSTRACT Medical evidence on the risks and benefits of cannabis is limited; existing research is often inconclusive or conflicting. In the United States, cannabis use during pregnancy is stigmatized and often subject to complex legal constraints; these contextual components may have significant effects on information seeking and informed decision‐making processes. This study applies Reflexive Thematic Analysis to 23 telephone interviews with individuals considering cannabis use in pregnancy or lactation to explore their information needs; how adequately those needs were met; and how information triangulation, and other information seeking behaviours, were used to make decisions given the dearth of scientific evidence. Findings suggest that information needs are complex and contextual, and that participants used forms of triangulation that included relational and intuitive elements as well as cognitive assessment processes. A new model of Everyday Triangulation (ET) is presented to represent these complex assessment practices in a holistic manner.