Poster Presentation Australian Diabetes Society and the Australian Diabetes Educators Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2014

Evaluation and review of an NDSS pregnancy resource for women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes (#261)

Effie Houvardas 1 , Ralph Audehm 2 , Wah Cheung 3 , Kaye Farrell 3 , Christel Hendrieckx 4 , Melinda Morrison 1 , Alison Nankervis 5 , Glynis Ross 6 , Renza Scibilia 7
  1. Australian Diabetes Council, Glebe, NSW, Australia
  2. Dianella Community Health, Broadmeadows, VIC A, Australia
  3. Westmead Hospital, Westmead , NSW, Australia
  4. Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes, Melbourne
  5. The Royal Women’s Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia
  6. Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
  7. Diabetes Australia-VIC, Melbourne, VIC , Australia

Women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes are at high risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes1. Research shows these risks can be minimised through appropriate family planning and diabetes-specific pre-pregnancy care2. The NDSS* Can I have a healthy baby? booklet is one of the few resources on this topic available nationally. As part of the NDSS Diabetes in Pregnancy National Development Program, an evaluation and review of this publication was undertaken. Evaluation included consultation with women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes (consumers) and health professionals via an online feedback process, and review of the content by the project’s Expert Reference Group. Eighteen health professionals and 17 consumers completed the online feedback process. The mean rating (maximum score 5) for design, font, images and readability was 4.2 for consumers and 3.8 for health professionals. The amount of information was rated as appropriate by 87% of both consumers and health professionals; however 38% of health professionals believed that the booklet did not meet the needs of all women with diabetes attending their service. The review highlighted content that needed to be updated in regards to clinical management, information addressing psychological wellbeing of women and revision of terminology to be line with the Diabetes Australia language position statement. In addition to content review, a plain English consultant was engaged to revise the booklet. The SAM (Suitability Assessment of Materials for evaluation of health-related information for adults) tool was administered to assess readability, usability and suitability. The revised booklet will be promoted via the NDSS to health professionals and women with diabetes of child-bearing age. The updated content of this booklet will provide the basis for a website for women with diabetes planning for pregnancy. *The National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) is an initiative of the Australian Government administered by Diabetes Australia.

  1. AIHW 2010. Diabetes in pregnancy: its impact on Australian women and their babies. Diabetes series no. 14. Cat. no. CVD 52. Canberra: AIHW.
  2. Murphy HR, Roland JM, Skinner TC, Simmons D, Gurnell E, Moorish NJ, Soo S-C, Kelly S, Randall J, Tompsett S, and Temple RC. Effectiveness of a regional prepregnancy care program in women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes: benefits beyond glycemic control. Diabetes Care 2010; 33: 2514–2520.