Formative work to inform the design of a postpartum intervention for Aboriginal women after diabetes in pregnancy.

This is formative work to explore women’s preferences for an intervention to prevent or effectively control type 2 diabetes (T2DM) after diabetes in pregnancy.

Aboriginal women are at high risk of having pre-existing T2DM prior to pregnancy and developing gestational diabetes (GDM) in pregnancy. After GDM, there is a high risk of recurrent GDM in future pregnancies and conversion to T2DM. Both GDM and T2DM are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes and T2DM is a significant health burden on the community with numerous complications impacting both morbidity and mortality.

Interventions to successfully prevent recurrent GDM and effectively control T2DM after pregnancy have the potential to markedly improve outcomes for both women and their children. Interventions such as lifestyle and pharmacological treatment have been trialed in non-Indigenous populations, but such interventions have not been tested for Aboriginal women. Hence, we aim to undertake in depth interviews with Aboriginal women and their healthcare providers to understand women’s preferences regarding diabetes prevention and optimisation of glycaemic control after their pregnancy.

This will inform a pilot study of an intervention designed to prevent GDM recurrence and early effective treatment of T2DM that is both clinically and culturally appropriate.