Culturally Tailored Resources for South Asian Immigrant Women With Gestational Diabetes: Do They Work and What's Missing? A Qualitative Study

OBJECTIVES

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) increases the risk of pregnancy complications. South Asian immigrant women have among the highest rates of GDM in Canada and they also have the highest lifelong risk of developing type 2 diabetes after a GDM pregnancy. Diabetes Canada has been developing diabetes education material that accounts for the cultural preferences of South Asians. However, there is uncertainty to whether South Asian immigrants are aware of these resources or trust them, or if other factors influence their uptake of advice.

METHODS

In this study, we conducted qualitative interviews to explore, among South Asian immigrant women with GDM: 1) their awareness of diabetes education resources, 2) their attitudes toward information from different resources and varying health-care providers and 3) their barriers and facilitators for GDM management recommendations. Gender theory is embedded in this study, as culturally specific gender roles regarding motherhood have been shown to be important to South Asian immigrant women and their perceptions of health.

RESULTS

There was an emergence of 3 main themes. First, awareness of culturally tailored educational resources is low. Second, there is an overabundance of GDM management information, which leads to variability among participants of how they rank accuracy of informational sources. Finally, there is a gender role reversal present, where women are being taken care of by their families instead of being the providers of care.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicate that better dissemination strategies for GDM educational material are needed for health-care providers and patients, and may require additional consideration of family involvement during GDM education sessions.