Educational needs assessment of gestational diabetes in pregnant women for safe delivery and healthy baby birth

Gestational diabetes, with an incidence of about 7 percent of pregnancies, is limited to pregnant women and causes glucose intolerance in these patients. Lack of diagnosis and early treatment can cause serious complications for both mother and fetus either during pregnancy or delivery. This study aimed to perform an educational needs assessment of gestational diabetes in pregnant women for safe delivery of healthy baby. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 101 pregnant women referred to health centers of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, were selected to educational needs assessment using convenience sampling. A questionnaire made by researcher was used for data collection consisted of 40 questions on demographics, knowledge assessment and educational needs assessment. The level of knowledge and educational needs of pregnant women on safe delivery of healthy baby was assessed. Women with an associate degree, as well as the women who have at least one diabetic case in their family had higher level of information about diabetes. 92.1% of women correctly answered the questions, while an average 7.9% failed. Regarding to the educational needs assessment, 64.1% declared that they need to learn about gestational diabetes whereas 35.9% did not need. A total of 87.3% of women had moderate to high level of knowledge on serious outcomes of gestational diabetes on fetal and neonatal health and 12.7% percent had poor knowledge. Pregnant women younger than 35 years who are not aware of their low level of information are at higher risk. Therefore in order to have a safe delivery and a healthy baby birth, they need more education on gestational diabetes.