Knowledge and Self-care Practice in Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus at B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Science, Dharan, Nepal

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus is a public health concern and one of the causes of maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity. Awareness of the condition among antenatal women will translate into adoption of a healthy lifestyle, better health-seeking pattern, better self-care practice, which prevent acute complications and reduce the risk of long-term complications and promote pregnancy outcome. The study was aimed to assess the knowledge and self-care practice among the antenatal women attending antenatal ward and OPD of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 60 antenatal women who had diagnosed Gestational Diabetes Mellitus by using purposive sampling method. Data was collected by interview method and analyzed using descriptive and interferential statistics at level of significance 0.05. The study findings revealed that 36.7 % of the respondents were in the age group of less than 25 years and 64.2 % had completed secondary level education. The overall knowledge on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus had good in 33.3 %, average in 40 % and poor in 26.7 %, whereas regarding self-care practice only 11.7 % had good, majority of 80 % had average and 8.3 % had poor self-care practice. There was a positive correlation between knowledge and self-care practice and statistically significant.