Choose to change maternity weight management pilot

Area of Science:

• Maternal Health
• Public Health Interventions
• Obesity Management

Background:

• Pregnancy obesity increases adverse health risks.
• Limited effective interventions and services exist for obese pregnant women.
• Greater Manchester faces inadequate support services for obese mothers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop, deliver, and evaluate a community-based weight management program (Choose to Change - CTC).
• To limit excessive gestational weight gain in obese pregnant women.
• To assess the impact of a 12-week healthy lifestyle intervention.

Main Methods:

• A 12-week community-based healthy lifestyle intervention (1:1 or group) for obese pregnant women (BMI >30).
• Intervention covered nutrition, physical activity, and behavior change.
• Baseline and outcome measures included weight, BMI, blood pressure, physical activity, diet, anxiety, self-esteem, and disordered eating.

Main Results:

• Pilot study involved 73 referrals; 28 clients entered the intervention (15 group, 13 1:1).
• Average weight gain for completers (n=8) was 1.03kg; results varied by intervention type (1:1: 0.04kg, group: 1.52kg).
• High drop-out rates observed: 62% (referral to assessment), 32% (assessment to intervention), 26% (during intervention).

Conclusions:

• The CTC healthy lifestyle intervention shows potential in limiting excessive gestational weight gain.
• Future directions include improving assessment procedures to reduce drop-out rates.
• Further analysis and post-measurements are needed to confirm long-term health benefits across Greater Manchester.