Psychoeducation intervention for pregnant women with gestational diabetes: A pilot study

Following diagnosis of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) at 24-28 weeks’ gestation. The researcher will enroll eligible and consenting women. The intervention will be delivered via face-to-face group education session once every week for four weeks with a specific topic for each week. The duration for each session will be one hour. The session includes information on gestational diabetes, diet, exercise and stress management, in the antenatal clinics. The participating women will be given a pamphlet after each session summarizing the session content. Each group will consist of 6 to 10 women. In addition to face-to-face group education sessions, women will receive weekly WhatsApp posts such as motivational statements, pictures, videos, and will be encouraged to interact within the groups. The face-to-face group education sessions will be held in a private room at the outpatient department. The researcher, who is a nurse and a lecturer in nursing school with more than 10 years' experience, will deliver the face-to-face sessions each week in the form of lecture, interactive activities, short videos about relaxation exercise such as deep breathing exercise. She will send a reminder before face-to-face session to remind women to attend the session and will use attendance checklist. The researcher will also create a WhatsApp group and will send invitation to the intervention group and will send posts and videos to reinforce and remind women about the information obtained in face-to-face sessions. The researcher will be the moderator of the WhatsApp group. She will encourage women to ask questions and share their experiences. A brief summary of the educational content: Week1 1- Welcome and orientation of the psychoeducation intervention 2- Defining stress and its effects on your body 3- Relationships between stress, anxiety, depression and gestational diabetes WhatsApp Posts: • Sharing experience • Video on relaxation exercise suitable for pregnant • Questions and discussion Week 2: 1- Definition of anxiety and depression 2- Symptoms of anxiety and depression WhatsApp posts: • Sharing experience • Video on deep breathing technique • Questions and discussion Week 3: 1- The benefits of physical activities that are appropriate for pregnant women with GDM 2- The impacts of physical activities on mental health 3- Ways to be active in different settings WhatsApp posts: • Sharing experience • Video on simple home-based exercises for pregnant • Questions and discussion Week 4: 1- How to prevent gestational diabetes 2- What is mindfulness meditation 3- Wrap up with a psychoeducation activity WhatsApp posts: • Sharing experience • Video on Mindfulness • Questions and discussion After completion of the intervention, semi-structured interviews will be conducted for pregnant women to get their feedback about the intervention. Pregnant women who provide their consent and willing to participate will be interviewed by the student researcher. All the interviews will be audio-recorded. Each interview will last for 20 to 30 minutes. The student researcher will interview women until data saturation. It is anticipated that 10 to 15 pregnant women will reach data saturation. The student researcher will follow an interview guide and example of questions are: 1. Please tell me your experience in the program. 2. Please tell me what was most helpful about the program? 3. Please tell me what was least helpful about the program? 4. Please tell me what has been the biggest change for you in managing GDM? 5. Please tell me what are other aspects that you would like to add in order to improve this program?