Investigating the Effect of Men's Participation on the Treatment Adherence of the Women Receiving the Gestational Diabetes Care

Background: Women with gestational diabetes are at the increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Men's participation during the pregnancy plays a vital role in the safety of the pregnant mothers by ensuring the access to care and providing the financial and emotional support. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of education based on the spouses' participation on the treatment adherence in the women with gestational diabetes. Methods: This non-randomized clinical trial study was performed on 80 women with gestational diabetes mellitus (40 in the control group and 40 in the intervention group) referred to the Bahar educational and medical center affiliated to the Shahroud university of medical sciences (Shahroud, Semnan province, Iran). The control group received the routine care and training. In addition to the usual training, the intervention group received the training in terms of gestational diabetes care along with their spouses. The testing of diabetes activities questionnaire (TDAQ) was completed by both study groups before and 5 weeks after the intervention. The p-value of 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The results showed that in the post-intervention phase, the treatment adherence score was not statistically significant in both study groups. Conclusions: Results of the study showed no remarkable effect for the education based on the spouse participation on the treatment adherence of the women with gestational diabetes therefore; further studies are suggested to investigate the lack of effect of the educational intervention reported in the present study. On the other hand, there is a need to repeat this research in the societies with poor treatment adherence.