Perceived Control And Physical Activity Determinants And Behaviors Among Pregnant Women With Gestational Diabetes

Abstract

Perceived control is an important determinant of physical activity (PA) motivation and behavior, and it may be particularly salient for pregnant women with complications such as gestational diabetes (GDM). While PA is safe and recommended as a strategy for controlling blood sugar, most GDM women are inactive. Little is known about how GDM women feel about engaging in PA during pregnancy and whether perceived control influences their PA determinants and behaviors during this time. PURPOSE: To prospectively examine PA determinants and behaviors among GDM women with low and high perceived control using the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior. METHODS: Women with GDM (N = 45, M age = 29±4, 78% Caucasian) completed self-reported measures of their PA attitude (ATT), subjective norm (SN), intention (INT), and perceived behavioral control (PBC), and wore Actigraph accelerometers and NL1000 pedometers during their 2nd and 3rd trimesters. Based on their PBC scores, women were classified as having low or high perceived control for PA; one-way ANOVAs with Bonferroni correction were used to determine significant group differences across the study variables. RESULTS: In the 2nd trimester, the high PBC group had significantly higher ATT (M = 44), SN (M = 20), INT (M = 19), and Actigraph activity counts/min (M = 340) compared to the low PBC group (M = 37, 15, 14, 267, respectively; p's <.001). No significant differences for the NL1000 steps/day or min of moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) were observed. In the 3rd trimester, the high PBC group had significantly higher ATT (M = 42), SN (M = 18), INT (M = 18), Actigraph activity counts/min (M = 317), NL1000 steps/day (M = 6,689), and NL1000 MVPA min (M = 22) compared to the low PBC group (M = 32, 14, 10, 255, 4,404, 12, respectively, p's <.01). CONCLUSION: These preliminary data suggest that perceived control may be an important factor influencing GDM women's PA determinants and behaviors, particularly in later pregnancy when there are more physical and psychological barriers to PA participation. Increasing GDM women's perceived control for PA may help this group to increase their PA and better manage their diabetes, which in turn, can result in better health outcomes for these women and their offspring. Funding: NIDDK DKR21-075867-02.