Development of a web-based prevention programme for women with post gestational diabetes (GDM): Baby Steps

Aims

To develop an engaging, accessible web-based programme (www.babysteps.fit) that provides on-going access to information and tools following attendance at a group structured education programme for women post-GDM.

Method:

The web-based programme was designed in collaboration with women post-GDM, healthcare professionals and our multidisciplinary team at the Leicester Diabetes Centre.

Features of the programme include the ability to link to activity trackers; take part in individual and team step challenges; track weight, diet, HbA1c and cholesterol; receive bite-sized interactive education sessions; educational resources on Type 2 diabetes and prevention; chat forums and goal setting.

As part of the study users were given a Fitbit device, linked to the web-based programme to monitor steps and to promote increasing activity.

Results:

76 active users joined with a 75% uptake to the programme; 7000 total logins were recorded with an average of 100 per user. These logins averaged 5 minutes each, reflecting our vision of this model being able to fit easily into everyday life. Users actively participated in the programme for over three months. Other engagement factors were: 200 comments posted in the forum; over 20 hours spent collectively reviewing the educational materials; and over 45,000,000 steps recorded totalling about 20,000 miles covered by the active users.

Conclusion:

The Baby Steps web-based programme is engaging and easily accessible, using a mobile first design, allowing access on multiple devices, e.g. desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone.