ACBRD research shows new mothers with diabetes face diabetes distress and need more support from healthcare professionals
Becoming a mother is a life-changing experience. Pregnancy and the postnatal period can be a stressful time for many women. In fact, up to one in four women will experience increasing anxiety and/or depressive symptoms as their pregnancy progresses. Women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes may face extra emotional stress. But little is known about the emotional impact of this transition to motherhood for women with diabetes.
A team of researchers, led by Prof Bodil Rasmussen and including the Centre’s own Dr Christel Hendrieckx, asked postnatal women with diabetes how they were feeling. They wanted to know about the women’s emotional well-being after giving birth, including how much diabetes distress they were experiencing.
What did the study involve?
Adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in Australia who had given birth in the last 12 months were invited to take part in an online survey. The survey asked for personal and health details like age, number of children, type of diabetes, and medications. Next, participants completed two questionnaires:
- The Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS), which asks about the emotional challenges of managing diabetes. The DDS is widely used in diabetes research and care. This 17-item scale provides measures of diabetes distress overall and across four areas:
- Interpersonal distress (e.g., how diabetes affects relationships)
- Regimen-related distress (e.g., difficulty managing daily diabetes tasks)
- Physician-related distress (e.g., concerns about healthcare professionals)
- Emotional burden (e.g., feeling overwhelmed by diabetes)
- The PostTrans Questionnaire, which asks about psychological well-being and support after giving birth with diabetes. It includes 27 items across six areas:
- Coping with diabetes and caring for the baby
- Feeling anxious or guilty about diabetes
- Feeling supported by family
- Sensitivity to the opinions of others
- Prioritising self-care
- Support and information from healthcare professionals
What did the results show?
Eighty-two women took part. The majority had type 1 diabetes (77%), and one or two children (87%).
DDS results showed that 64% of postnatal women with diabetes experienced diabetes distress. In particular, the ‘emotional burden’ of diabetes was commonly reported (77%).
Results from the PostTrans Questionnaire showed that most women were ‘feeling supported by family’ (76%). However, positive responses were rare (30%) when asked about ‘feeling anxious and guilty about diabetes’ after birth. Most women found balancing their babies and diabetes care needs to be a real challenge. They also worried about their baby developing diabetes.
Scores on the DDS and PostTrans Questionnaire were found to be related. Specifically, women with greater diabetes distress were also more likely to report:
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- Feeling overwhelmed by diabetes and baby care
- Worry or guilt about diabetes
- Being sensitive to what others think
- Not getting enough support or information from health professionals
What does this mean?
New mothers with diabetes experience high rates of distress. Feeling anxious and guilty about diabetes and lacking support from healthcare professionals is linked to greater distress. Better mental health support and healthcare assistance could help women manage diabetes and baby care more easily. Tailored programs could focus on reducing fears about having a baby while living with diabetes and build on current diabetes management strategies. This could all help women with diabetes adjust to (or plan for) life with a new baby.
Read more about pregnancy, diabetes distress, or type 1 and type 2 diabetes in our previous blogs.
Reference:
Rasmussen B, Mekonnen A, Geller G, Holton S, Orellana L, Nankervis A, Houlihan C, Hendrieckx C, Steele C, McNamara C, Read M, Wynter K. Psychosocial well-being and diabetes distress in the transition to motherhood among women with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, 2025 Mar, 43:101048.
