PRE-CONCEPTION CARE FOR WOMEN WITH DIABETES

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Pre-conception care for women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes: What are the facilitators and barriers to uptake?

  • IRAS ID

    156840

  • Contact name

    Sarah Earle

  • Contact email

    sarah.earle@open.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    The Open University

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    CRD42014015592, PROSPERO; 30110, ISRCTN

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 11 months, 31 days

  • Research summary

    Diabetes is a global public health problem and one of the most common medical complications in pregnancy. Rates of diabetes in pregnancy are rapidly increasing, especially due to the projected growth in the number of women who are obese or overweight. Obesity can increase the risk of getting type 2 diabetes but both forms of pre-existing diabetes – type 1 and type 2 – can lead to serious complications. These risks to health can be modified and pre-conception care is known to make a difference. However, the uptake of pre-conception care is often low and it remains unclear how this can be improved.

    This research aims to review the existing literature in the field and conduct qualitative work to understand why women with pre-existing diabetes do, or do not, access pre-conception care, focusing specifically on the factors that facilitate or discourage uptake. A further objective is to investigate the views of staff and stakeholders at the frontline of service provision in order to explore their views.

    The research involves five phases. In Phase I a comprehensive review of the existing descriptive literature will be conducted. In Phase II guided interviews will be carried out with women and in Phase III, women will participate in focus group discussions. Phase IV will involve guided interviews with staff and stakeholders and participants in this phase of the research will be invited to reflect on the views of service users, ensuring that the views of service users are at the centre of the project. Phase IV will focus on writing the project report and disseminating the findings of the project to maximise the potential impact of this work.

    The great potential of this project is to optimise women’s health outcomes by increasing the uptake of pre-conception care through a better understanding of the factors influencing uptake.

  • REC name

    South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    15/SC/0026

  • Date of REC Opinion

    5 Mar 2015

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion