The Effect of Spouse Participation in Gestational Diabetes Care on Pregnant Women s Perceived Social Support

Background: Lack of social support may lead to destructive effects on pregnancy outcomes, especially for women with gestational diabetes. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effect of spouse participation in gestational diabetes care on pregnant women s perceived social support. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out in one of the health centers affiliated with Shahroud University of Medical Science, Shahroud, Iran, during 2018 - 19. A total of 80 pregnant women with gestational diabetes were non-randomly allocated to two groups of 40 members. The control group received the standard care, whereas the experiment group received, in addition to the standard care, gestational diabetes care as well as face-to-face and online education with their spouses. Demographic and Diabetes Social Support Questionnaire-Family Version was filled by the two groups before and five weeks after the intervention. Data analyses were performed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, paired t-test, and chi-squared test with SPSS (V16). Results: The total score of social support in the experiment group had a significant increase compared to that in the control group (3.42 ± 1.16, 3.06 ± 1.14, and P 0.001). In addition, the three aspects of social support (i.e., taking blood sugar test, adhering to diet, and receiving social support) in the experiment group had a significant increase compared to those in the control group (P 0.05). Conclusions: Considering the positive effect of spouse participation on the perceived social support of pregnant women with gestational diabetes and on their healthy pregnancy, it was recommended that health policymakers should codify pregnancy cares, despite the cultural limitations, in order to facilitate maximum participation of spouses.