The Effectiveness of Information- Motivation - Behavioral Skills Model in Prevention of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Pregnant Women with Overweight and Obese

Backgrounds: Gestational diabetes is one of the most common metabolic disorders in pregnancy. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of behavior intervention on Information- Motivation - Behavioral Skills (IMB) Model in preventing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in overweight and obese pregnant women.Material and Method: This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 162 overweight and obese pregnant women in the Rohani hospital of Babol from June 2018 to February 2019. 14 participants were excluded due to exclusion criteria and 148 were randomly allocated into intervention and control groups. In addition to standard prenatal care, the intervention group received four intervention sessions IMB Model at 12-16 weeks of gestation. Participants completed pretest measures, demographic and health promoting behaviors questionnaires and blood glucose were assessed. Then, 8 weeks after the intervention were re assessed. Diagnosis of GDM was based on a country protocol at 24-28 weeks of gestation. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as independent t-test, Chi-square, Ancova and Mancova were used. P value less than 5% was considered significant.Result: The incidence of GDM in the intervention group was lower than the control group (RR = 0.33, P = 0.004). The mean score of health promotion behaviors in the intervention group was higher than the control group (P = 0.001). The mean difference between two groups were significant (d = 0.77).Conclusion: Findings showed support for the effectiveness of the IMB-based intervention in overweight and obese pregnant women in decrease the incidence of gestational diabetes and also improved the dimensions of various behaviors of health. Therefore; it is recommended that all pregnant women, especially high risks women, be counselling on IMB model for preventing gestational diabetes