Ganapathy Thilagavathy
King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Saudi Arabia
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care
Context: Childbearing women are the second victims for a significant gestational weight retention and weight
gain. The gestational weigh retention and weight gain in the postpartal period may primarily contribute
to the development of overweight and obesity in midlife and postmenopausal period. Being overweight
and obese prior to conception has important implications for long-term persistent weight changes. Although
the scientific literature about this subject is growing, what women perceive as reasons for their gestational
weight retention, excessive weight gain and their inability to lose weight postpartum, is not yet explored in
Indian population. There may be unique reasons to weight management in this period. At a practical level,
understanding the holistic perception of women would address the barriers to healthy weight management
and move us forward in devising primary preventive strategies to optimize healthy weight management.
Aim: The aim of the study was to explore what women perceive as reasons for their excessive gestational
weight retention and weight gain in postpartum period.
Methods: Following the approval of this cross sectional study protocol by ethical committee, purposive
sampling was used to select women from diversified culture with different needs and views to explore their
perceptions on various reasons for postpartal gestational weight retention and gain. Low risk postpartal women
during the first year of postpartum, with BMI of >25 kg/m2 were included. Women with any associated
medical, surgical, gynecological, psychological risk factors were excluded. For a significance level of 5%,
a statistical power of 80%, and a minimum effect size of 0.5, the minimum sample size calculated was 168
postpartum women. Taking into consideration of missing data and noncompliance by 20%, n=200 women
were recruited. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 21.0. Armonk, NY:
IBM Corp).
Results: The results indicated that of the n=200 postnatal women who agreed to participate in the study, n=15
of them were excluded from the study as n=06 of them withdrew from the study due to time constraints, n=09
had missing values. Final analyses consisted of n=185 postpartal women in less than a year of postpartum
with BMI >25 kg/m2. The participants were between 23 to 37 years old, with mean age of 25.2±5.13 years.
Participants perceived that lowered physical activity sedentary life style behavior (98.92%), sleep deprivation
and stress (97.84%), lack of knowledge (97.29%), misconceptions that breast feeding automatically leads to
weight loss (96.76%), and high caloric intake (97.29% ) as reasons for gestational weight retention and gain
in the postpartum period. Misconceptions that weight gain is predetermined by genetic factors (95.68%), lack
of support (93.51%) and the use of eating for physical and psychological comfort (82%) were also claimed
as reasons for weight gain in the postpartum period.
Conclusion: Obstetric health care personnel should identify women who are susceptible to substantial
postpartum weight retention, to becoming obese, or to increased central adiposity after pregnancy. Intensive
preventive measures should be devised to raise awareness on risks associated with unhealthy gestational
weight retention and weight gain in the postpartal period.
Journal of Nursing & Care received 4230 citations as per Google Scholar report