A Quantitative Analysis of Non-Compliance with Dietary Regimen amongst Pregnant Women with Diabetes

ABSTRACT

Background: Compliance with Dietary Regimen amongst Pregnant Women with Diabetes. is a key behaviour that determines the future of the woman as well as to the feotus wellbeing. The control of dietary intake is a crucial element of the diabetes treatment regimen, and is used for the purpose of normalizing blood glucose levels. Pregnant women with diabetes often experience difficulties in remaining compliant with their dietary regimen. The social support system and limited level of knowledge regarding their diabetes dietary management may also contribute to this problem. Although, clinical support may be provided through health care institutions if the clients did not access these services, this may also result in them having a knowledge deficit regarding the importance of dietary restriction. Objective: The objectives of this study are are (i) To identify whether there was an association between socioeconomic factors and compliance with prescribed dietary regimen (ii) To identify whether knowledge affected compliance with diet regimen (iii) To identify cultural and lifestyle issues which may influence compliance with prescribed dietary management (iv) To identify whether clinical support services, contributed to the level of compliance to prescribed dietary regimen. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive quantitative study, was conducted to obtain survey data from a sample of 60 participants. This study was conducted to examine different factors influencing dietary compliance amongst pregnant women diagnosed with diabetes and are attending antenatal clinic at the Port of Spain General Hospital, San Fernando General Hospital and Mt Hope Women Hospital. Data collection was done using a semi-structured questionnaire among 20 participants from each hospital. This design was selected, because it allowed the researcher to collect data at a specific point in time from a representative subset of the population. The data gathered were then analysed using SPSS version 20. Results: The study showed that 28 (41.7%) respondents had pre gestational diabetes while 32 (58.3%) had gestational diabetes. Respondents had adequate knowledge of diabetes management, had attended a consultation with a dietician; however, most of the information regarding diabetes management was given by the Doctor. Being taught about blood glucose levels was positively correlated to management of hyperglycaemia (0.455, p0.01) and hypoglycaemia (0.383, p0.01). Further, confidence to eat recommended meals daily was positively correlated to eating appropriate foods (0.372, p0.01) while their management of hyperglycaemia was positively correlated to the emotional experiences (0.371, p0.01). While they had good levels of knowledge, they generally had difficulty complying with recommended dietary recommendations. Conclusion: This study highlights the fact that DM is a growing phenomenal amongst pregnant women. It further identifies factors that contribute either positively or negatively to the client's compliance to their recommended dietary regimen. Although the women express the importance of dietary compliance, it was noted that these women do struggle with complying to their diet in some way or the other.