Self-management for Blood Sugar Control of Pregnant Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is the most common complication found in pregnancy which affects maternal and child health status. The practice guideline for pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) starts from the diet control. If pregnant women with GDM have poor blood sugar control, they will also receive insulin therapy. Therefore, health personnel should promote pregnant women to have an appropriate self-management in order to control their blood sugar and prevent complications. According to Creer (2000), the self-management is a behavior modification for disease control of pregnant women. It starts from goal selection for diet control and physical activity to control disease. The health personnel provide health education and skill training for self-management to pregnant women. Then, pregnant women collect information from health personnel and other sources, following by information processing in order to make decision and take an appropriate practice to achieve goal. As pregnant women modify their health behaviors, health personnel play an encouraging role and provide the morale continuously as well as reflect the problems, barriers, and success factors to achieve the goal of self-management. Therefore, self-management for disease control focuses on a cooperation between health personnel and pregnant women. As a result, pregnant women can achieve the goal of self-management for blood sugar control.