Effect of Health Education Programme on Self-Care Practice of Gestational Diabetes among Antenatal Mothers in General Hospitals, Katsina State, Nigeria

This study examined the effect of a health education programme on self-care practices among antenatal mothers with gestational diabetes in General Hospitals in Katsina State, Nigeria. The study, which included an experimental and control group based on pre-test and post-test measures, employed a quasi-experimental approach. Out of the 281 diabetes pregnant women in the study region, 65 registered diabetic prenatal mothers were purposefully chosen as a sample. Experts from several departments duly validated the Structured Self-Care Practice Questionnaire on Gestational Diabetes Care and Management (SKQGCM), which the researcher used. The instrument's reliability was assessed using the test-retest method, and the results showed a coefficient (r) of 0.93. The t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient inferential statistics were used to evaluate the formulated hypotheses (one and two, respectively) at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that there is a significant difference in self-care practices between the control and experimental groups after the health education program (P = 0.000). Moreover, there is a significant relationship between educational level, knowledge of gestational diabetes and self-care practices of the diabetic antenatal mothers in the experimental group. The study concluded that the intervention programme had an impact on the self-care practices of diabetic antenatal mothers. Among other things, it was suggested that medical facilities should offer organized, research-based courses on gestational diabetes as part of standard prenatal care.