Page 130 - Pro-active Management of Women’s Health after Cardiometabolic Complicated Pregnancies

128 | Part 3 Lifestyle intervention
RESULTS
Participants
Of the 36 women participating in the focus group interviews, 21 had experienced preeclampsia, 4 intrauterine growth restriction, 5 gestational diabetes, and 6 women had experienced both preeclampsia and intrauterine growth restriction. The number of participants per group ranged from 4 to 10 (average 6). See table 3.3.1 for demographic data and clinical characteristics of the study participants.
Postpartum Lifestyle Counseling
All women expressed a need for postpartum lifestyle counseling. “Every piece of advice, guidance and information after delivery is very valuable.” Generally, women said that they would like to receive personal feedback on their current health status and their future risk. “It would help if someone would say: You are too heavy, these are the consequences of being too heavy, and this is what you can do to lose weight”. However, all stated that postpartum lifestyle counseling should preferably not be too time consuming and should not cost too much effort.
All preferred to receive tailored postpartum lifestyle advice. In addition, women mentioned that participation in postpartum lifestyle counseling should preferably be tailored to personal preferences regarding the frequency, onset, duration, and the length of personal guidance. For example, some reported that they would like to be able to decrease the frequency of counseling visits after a certain time after delivery. Also, women who had experienced a prolonged period of recovery, preferred to postpone participation in a lifestyle counseling