Page 137 - Pro-active Management of Women’s Health after Cardiometabolic Complicated Pregnancies

3.3 Preferences for postpartum lifestyle counseling| 135
CONCLUSION
The results of our study suggest that postpartum lifestyle counseling aimed at women who had experienced preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, and/or gestational diabetes should be tailored to individual needs and preferences. However, further quantitative studies should be conducted to determine the relative importance of the reported preferences.
Postpartum lifestyle counseling aimed at these women should preferably be developed in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of health care specialists and in close collaboration with potential users, should address important behavioral determinants, and should be both theory and evidence based. Further research is needed to establish whether women who have experienced different pregnancy complications also differ in their preferences for postpartum lifestyle counseling.
Based on our results, we conclude that postpartum lifestyle promotion among women who have experienced these pregnancy complications deserves more attention in clinical practice. Gynecologists should play a central role in informing women of their increased cardiovascular and metabolic risk. Before evidence-based interventions are developed specifically for this high-risk group, they could already emphasize the importance of adopting a healthy postpartum lifestyle.
Practice Implications
The efficacy of a developed lifestyle counseling strategy should eventually be tested in a randomized controlled trial. Meanwhile, the preferences reported in the present study provide a basis for desired health promotion support. These preferences can be implemented in the process of developing and implementing