Effect of Diabetes Education Program on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Knowledge Among Diabetic Pregnant Women: An Experimental Study

Abstract Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a disease condition present during pregnancy and if not properly managed would have severe effect on the maternal and neonatal health. This research determined the effect of diabetes education program (DEP) on gestational diabetes mellitus knowledge (GDMK) among diabetic pregnant women (DPW) and significant differences within groups.Methods: This study was based on a pretest – posttest measures of experimental research design involving experimental (n=110) and control (n=110) groups. A total of 220 DPW were purposively recruited from public hospitals in Nigeria between October and December 2019. The DEP was delivered to DPW in experimental group. The Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Knowledge Questionnaire (GDMKQ) of 0.774 was used for data collection. The statistical analysis was completed using IBM SPSS version 22. Results: The results revealed that no statistically significant difference existed on GDM history (P=0.801>0.05), smoking habit (P=0.0615>0.05), parity status (P=0.503>0.05), and level of education (P=0.720>0.05), while difference was observed on alcohol status (P=0.011<0.05), and age by birth (P=0.0090.05), difference existed between the DPW in the intervention and control groups on GDMK posttest scores (P=0.026<0.05). Also, the higher percentage score (78%) of DPW in the experimental group in the posttest GDMK measures which is higher than the score in the pretest measures (55%) of the same group were indications that DEP has significant effect on GDMK among DPW.Conclusion: This demonstrates that reliable interventions are effective in combating pregnancy-related complications. This requires collaborative efforts by concerned bodies to combat notable complications during pregnancy using reliable intervention.Trial Registration: In retrospect, the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry documented the study with registration trial code (Trial No.: PACTR201903003187005)