Pregnancy is a normal physiological process for the majority of women. These women, their families and significant others normally expect a successful period of pregnancy, labour, delivery and arrival of a normal and healthy baby. However, some of these pregnant women may develop Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) during this period and if not managed properly, the mother and the foetus in utero are affected in a negative way: there is a likelihood of the mother and baby developing Type 2 Diabetes in the future and also, other risks such as preterm labour, and foetal macrosomia. In order to prevent such occurrences, I set out to develop a best practice guideline for the nursing management of GDM in military health institutions in Ghana in order to help enhance nursing care. The design for this research was qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual in nature. The research is organised in three phases: Phase one deals with the data analysis and discussion of the interviews with professional nurses and midwives and women with a history of GDM. The data collected from the interviews were transcribed, analysed and extracted with Tesch’s eight steps of coding used for the coding. The services of an independent coder were employed to assist with the coding process which led to the formulation of key themes. Semi-structured individual interviews provided a means of exploring the perceptions of professional nurses and midwives on the nursing management of GDM: in addition, women with a history of GDM were interviewed so as to elicit their views on the management they had experienced from professional nurses and midwives before and after being diagnosed with GDM. The trustworthiness of the study was ensured by conforming to Lincoln and Guba’s framework of credibility, transferability, dependability, confirmability and authenticity. An independent coder assisted with the coding process. Phase two deals with the Integrative literature review of available evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the nursing management of GDM. Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines were searched and appraised with assistance from an independent appraiser and themes were then formulated. In Phase three, the themes from Phase one and Phase two were integrated for the development of a draft best practice guideline for the nursing management of GDM in military health institutions in Ghana. The draft guideline was given to an expert panel of reviewers for their comments and recommendations. These were considered in the development of the final best practice guideline for the nursing management of GDM.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:27409 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Mensah, Gwendolyn Patience |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela University, Faculty of Health Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Doctoral, PhD |
| Format | xviii, 227 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela University |
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