Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude and Performance Regarding Gestational Diabetes Mellitus among Women

Background and Aim: Women's knowledge and attitudes about pregnancy can be effective in preventing and early detection, therefore, it seems that measuring the level of knowledge and attitude towards this issue and informing women more about its solutions. The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and performance of gestational diabetes among women referring to health centers Masjed-Soleyman in 2018. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 142 women referred to health centers in Masjed-Soleyman were evaluated by convenience sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire entitled "Assessing the level of knowledge, attitude and performance of mothers from gestational diabetes mellitus". Data analysis with spss-20 software using t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient was done. Results: In this study, 142 women with an average age of 38.88 ± 16.91 years were studied. Of these, 47.9% were holding diploma, 31.7% higher than diploma and 20.4% were illiterate. The mean score of knowledge, attitude and performance of these individuals were 19.14 ± 8.94, 20.77 ± 5.71 and 8.21 ± 3.21 that indicating good knowledge and performance and average attitude about gestational diabetes. Female employees had significantly higher knowledge, attitude and performance than others (p<0.05), But there was no significant relationship between the mean scores of knowledge, attitude and practice, number of abortions, education, gestational age and information source (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results showed that knowledge, attitude and performance in these people are at an acceptable level, but not yet ideal. It is suggested that online education programs should be developed for pregnant women with a special focus on gestational diabetes mellitus, which reduces and eliminates harmful pregnancies, promote maternal health, and promote healthy and socially inclusive societies.