Page 152 - Pro-active Management of Women’s Health after Cardiometabolic Complicated Pregnancies

150 | Part 3 Lifestyle intervention
window of opportunity to apply a lifestyle intervention shortly after delivery1. Our study provides a list of motivators and barriers of postpartum lifestyle. This list can be used to develop a lifestyle intervention aimed at women who have experienced these pregnancy complications. However, the reported findings are descriptive and provide information that should be further evaluated in quantitative research in representative samples. Further quantitative research is needed to be able to determine the prevalence and the relative importance of the reported benefits and barriers. In addition, research should be focused on the determinants of participation in health promotion programs and preferred program characteristics in order to develop an effective evidence-based lifestyle intervention for implementation in this high-risk group
Study limitations and strengths
Selection bias might have occurred, as only patients who gave birth in the Erasmus University Medical Center (a tertiary referral hospital) were invited to participate. Patients who are admitted to this university hospital generally experience more severe complications compared to other hospitals in the surrounding area. Despite efforts to prevent bias (e.g. by having random, consecutive participant selection), a volunteer bias could have occurred. There was a low recruitment rate. Reasons for non-participation included insufficient understanding of the Dutch language and inability to be present at the time of the focus group interviews.
In addition, an investigator bias may have arisen. Although using more than one analyst might have improved the consistency or reliability of the analyses, the appropriateness of the inter-rater reliability concept in qualitative research is still debated249 265.
Our finding that women did not succeed in living a healthy lifestyle,