Understanding the Self-monitoring Practices of People Living with Gestational Diabetes: A Qualitative Study with Implications for the Design of Self-monitoring Technologies

Gestational Diabetes (GD) is a common perinatal condition that can strongly impact the health of both the mother and the foetus. To avoid complications, people living with GD need to quickly learn to monitor their blood glucose levels and implement relevant changes to their diet and physical activity. Despite the importance of self-monitoring in GD, there is limited understanding of how people living with GD monitor their blood glucose in everyday life. This paper describes the self-monitoring practices of people living with GD in Portugal, drawing on 25 interviews with women who had GD, complemented by observations of glucose monitoring training sessions and interviews with five nurses. Our findings show that people living with GD learned complex practices within weeks of diagnosis, including measuring on the move, measuring while task-switching, and performing repeated measurements. We reflect on the impact of practices in everyday life and outline three implications for the design of self-monitoring technologies for GD.