Supporting the Journey of Pregnancy for Women with Type 1 Diabetes
type: CreativeWork
description: Diabetes is one of the most common medical conditions complicating pregnancy. Despite improvements in care, management of pregnancy for women with type 1 diabetes remains challenging. Adverse outcomes include congenital anomalies, stillbirth and perinatal mortality. There is well established evidence that the risks can be significantly reduced by attendance at pre-pregnancy counselling. However, for a variety of reasons, uptake is persistently low. Contemplation of pregnancy is an opportune time to offer information about pre-pregnancy counselling. This time-phase of the pregnancy journey may last many years, and precedes pregnancy planning. Women with type 1 diabetes might be seeking knowledge, reassurance, and a sense of optimism about pregnancy from their peers, via internet-based resources, before and/or instead of, approaching a health care professional. Along with peer support, internet-based pregnancy resources can offer balanced information about the risks of pregnancy, coupled with positive stories about becoming and being a mother with type 1 diabetes. Women with type 1 diabetes may expect more intensive medical intervention during pregnancy and can experience reassurance from this, however the intense focus on diabetes management can detract from the experience of pregnancy itself. There can be mental health impacts and increased experiences of diabetes specific distress, that might be different to other times of their lives. Communication about pregnancy needs to be balanced and timely. Supporting the Journey of Pregnancy for Women with type 1 diabetes 11 More information is needed for both women with type 1 diabetes and health care professionals, about what pre-pregnancy counselling involves, where it is available and why it is important. There should be a person-centred approach. This Thesis firstly explores the pregnancy journey for women with type 1 diabetes through a thematic analysis of online diabetes counselling records. This results in the devel…
abstract: Diabetes is one of the most common medical conditions complicating pregnancy. Despite improvements in care, management of pregnancy for women with type 1 diabetes remains challenging. Adverse outcomes include congenital anomalies, stillbirth and perinatal mortality. There is well established evidence that the risks can be significantly reduced by attendance at pre-pregnancy counselling. However, for a variety of reasons, uptake is persistently low. Contemplation of pregnancy is an opportune time to offer information about pre-pregnancy counselling. This time-phase of the pregnancy journey may last many years, and precedes pregnancy planning. Women with type 1 diabetes might be seeking knowledge, reassurance, and a sense of optimism about pregnancy from their peers, via internet-based resources, before and/or instead of, approaching a health care professional. Along with peer support, internet-based pregnancy resources can offer balanced information about the risks of pregnancy, coupled with positive stories about becoming and being a mother with type 1 diabetes. Women with type 1 diabetes may expect more intensive medical intervention during pregnancy and can experience reassurance from this, however the intense focus on diabetes management can detract from the experience of pregnancy itself. There can be mental health impacts and increased experiences of diabetes specific distress, that might be different to other times of their lives. Communication about pregnancy needs to be balanced and timely. Supporting the Journey of Pregnancy for Women with type 1 diabetes 11 More information is needed for both women with type 1 diabetes and health care professionals, about what pre-pregnancy counselling involves, where it is available and why it is important. There should be a person-centred approach. This Thesis firstly explores the pregnancy journey for women with type 1 diabetes through a thematic analysis of online diabetes counselling records. This results in the devel…
author: Edwards, Helen Margaret
language: en
keywords: type 1 diabetes, diabetes, diabetes and pregnancy, diabetes psychology
date published: 2019
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:50:44Z
provider: University of Adelaide
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Adelaide

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2440/120738