Education programs for gestational diabetes mellitus: A systematic review

Abstract

Gestational diabetes mellitus is one of the most common metabolic diseases during pregnancy and is a condition that needs to be handled carefully because it brings significant risks for maternal, fetal and neonatal health. In this systematic review, we aimed to examine randomized controlled trials evaluating the effect of different educational programs applied to pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus on the management of the disease. Between November and December 2022, Google Scholar, EBSCOhost/CINAHL Complete, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases were searched with the keywords ‘gestational, diabetes mellitus, management, randomized controlled trials'. As a result of the search, 2859 articles were found. In the schematic review, 11 randomized controlled trials, the full text of which was available, which were conducted between 2017 and 2022, were included. It was found that diabetes education given to pregnant women had a positive effect on quality of life and self-efficacy. It was observed that the babies of women who received education had fewer complications compared to the control group, the blood glucose levels of the pregnant women who received education were significantly lower than those in the control group, and nutritional habits gave significantly desired results in the intervention group.