Before we publish our articles, they go through several stages of feedback and correction. We work with a double peer-review system, in which a new article is reviewed by two different team members. Feedback from these two reviewers is incorporated into the article by the author. The article is then edited for consistency and clarity by our editor. We're also working hard to recruit medical experts who can fact-check our articles before publication, so that we can guarantee accuracy at a higher level. 

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At PREhealth, we're dedicated to making our writing as accessible and inclusive as possible. This way, we can reach as many people as possible who might be in need of the information we provide. 

Concretely, this means the following:

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• We write in simple, approachable language. We avoid using jargon and aim to make our content understandable for people who haven't had much education or who have low literacy. To support this goal, we're working to implement audio and video versions of each article. We also have a glossary that we're constantly updating, which contains more difficult scientific or health-related terms. If any words, terms or concepts remain unclear, we invite you to leave a comment under the relevant article or contact us here.  

• We write using gender-inclusive language. This means we avoid using only terms such as "woman" or "mother" to refer to someone who's pregnant, breastfeeding or menstruating, but also include gender-neutral terms such as "pregnant person", "carrying parent" (which indicates the parent who is carrying the baby while it's still in the womb), "menstruator", and others. We also mostly use the neutral pronouns "they" and "them" to refer to people of unknown gender identity. This way, people who have female reproductive organs (such as a vagina, uterus, and ovaries) but who don't identify as a woman are also included in our education. These may be people who identify as non-binary, as well as transgender men, for example. This practice is in line with guidelines published by different medical organisations* and is scientifically supported**. We understand this may be confusing at first, but you'll quickly adapt as you read more of our content. We also recognize that some women may feel erased or dehumanised by exclusive use of gender-neutral language, which why we try to use additive language in our content - meaning we might write "women and menstruators" or "mothers and birthing parents", to give a couple of examples. 

• We do our best to avoid language that stigmatizes, stereotypes, or excludes people with disabilities.

• We are careful to avoid generalization and stigmatization of cultures and ethnicities. 

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PREhealth is available in different languages, and we're working to increase the number of available languages continuously. That said, it is easier to implement inclusive language (especially gender-inclusive language) in some languages than it is in others. Know that we do our best to maximally exploit each language's possibilities in this regard. 

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We're committed to ensuring our readers feel most safe and comfortable while learning on our platform. If you have any feedback, comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact us here. We're ever-learning, too!

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*Including the NHG (the Dutch general practitioner's organisation), the APA (American Psychological Organisation), the ACOG (here and here; this is the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists), the NHS (the British National Health Services), and the ABM (Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine). 

**See for example:

• Kattari SK et al. Exploring the relationship between transgender-inclusive providers and mental health outcomes among transgender/gender variant people. Social Work in Health Care. 2016;55(8):635-650. DOI: 10.1080/00981389.2016.1193099

• MacKinnon KR et al. Recognizing and renaming in obstetrics: How do we take better care with language? Obstetric Medicine. 2021;14(4):201-203/ DOI: 10.1177/1753495X211060191

• Miyagi M et al. Transgender rights rely on inclusive language. Science. 2021;374(6575):1568-1569. DOI: 10.1126/science.abn3759