A Co-created Self-care and Informal Support Intervention Study Among Women With GDM in Vietnam

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is significant public health problem in Vietnam, which is potentially treatable if managed properly by the pregnant women once diagnosed. However, systematic screening for GDM is rarely undertaken in Vietnam, and little is known about how health providers, pregnant women, and their families in today's Vietnam handle the condition. Vietnamese women often depend on their extended family for daily life management and access to social and financial resources, hence, an intervention that focuses on informal support and GDM self-care may increase adherence the standard guidelines among pregnant women with GDM in Vietnam and increase neonatal and maternal health outcomes.

Background: Across the globe, diabetes mellitus is attaining epidemic proportions, with low- and middle-income countries confronting particularly high burdens. VALID II focuses on gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a transitory form of diabetes that presents during pregnancy.

Objectives: To: i) Determine prevalence and risk factors for GDM among pregnant women in Vietnam's Thai Binh province, ii) Measure the associations between GDM and pregnancy complications and outcomes, iii) Understand how pregnant women with GDM and their informal support persons perceive and handle the condition, iv) Co-create, implement, and assess the feasibility of a intervention aiming to enhance the self-care capacities of pregnant women with GDM.

Study setting: Thai Binh, Vietnam

Study design: Intervention study

Study population: 2,000 pregnant women attending antenatal care.

Methodology: The study will be performed as a pilot parallel 2-arm non-randomized intervention study with a delayed-start for the intervention group. 1000 women will be invited into the study at their first antenatal care visit (gestational week 12) and complete a questionnaire (inclusion questionnaire). All women will be offered a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in gestational week 24-28 and complete second questionnaire (OGTT questionnaire) exploring living conditions, lifestyle, risk factors, selfcare, perceived social support, perceived wellbeing, and sign of depression. An estimated 200 women (\~20%) will screen positive for GDM by the OGTT according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2013 diagnostic criteria and receive standard GDM care. These 200 women will serve as the study's control group (study phase I). Among the 200 women who screen positive in phase I, ethnographic interviews will be formed in a subgroup of 20 women. The information from the 20 ethnographic interviews and the 200 questionnaire interviews will help inform a co-created "self-care and informal support" intervention. Subsequently, another 1000 women will be invited into the study at their first antenatal care visit and be offered a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in gestational week 24-28 (study phase II). An estimated 200 women (\~20%) will screen positive for GDM, and these women will receive the co-created intervention and serve as the study's intervention group.

Additionally, all women (both intervention and control group) will be interviewed in gestational week 32-36 and 8-12 weeks postpartum. Further, information about HbA1c, maternal BMI, gestational weight gain, mode of delivery, neonatal weight as well as obstetric and neonatal complications will be obtained from measurements and the delivery records. The primary endpoint will be large for gestational age. Secondary neonatal endpoints will be macrosomia, preterm birth, stillborn/neonatal death and neonatal hypoglycemia. Secondary maternal outcomes will be HbA1c, hypertensive disorders, gestational weight gain, caesarean section, women's GDM self-care, perceived social support, perceived wellbeing, signs of depression, breastfeeding rates, quality of life, and empowerment. The outcome of this intervention pilot study will determine whether the intervention can be feasibly delivered within the context of a full-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT). Thus, the pilot study will not be powered to detect statistical differences in key clinical outcomes, but the sample sizes have been chosen to highlight problems and confirm the potential to detect differences.

Women may be included in the study all the way up to gestational age 28 depending on when they attend their first antenatal care appointment and receive the OGTT. Further, the point in time of the different questionnaire interviews may vary according to the needs of the pregnant women and when she delivers.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Pregnancy \< 28 weeks
* Singleton and multiple pregnancies
* Residing in Thai Binh province
* Speaks and reads Vietnamese
* Agree to participate voluntarily (informed consent)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Pre-gestational diabetes (type I or type II)
* Severe chronic disease

Women with GDM in a prior pregnancy are eligible for inclusion into the study.