Background: Obesity in pregnancy is a contemporary health issue. Healthy weight gain during pregnancy is essential for mother’s wellbeing, and foetal development and growth. As suitable written resources for nutritional advice in pregnancy are limited in New Zealand, we modified, with permission, a popular Diabetes NZ booklet to meet what we considered to be the needs of pregnant women.
Aims: The aim of this study was to determine if the modified Diabetes NZ booklet was deemed to be a good nutrition resource for pregnant women and their family/whānau by undertaking a citizen’s jury.
Methods: First-time pregnant women not requiring specialist care were recruited through Lead Maternity Carers (LMCs) in Southland, New Zealand. The women were provided with a copy of the modified Diabetes NZ booklet prior to the ‘jury day’. Five experts presented evidence. The women adjourned to a room, and with the assistance of a facilitator, ‘deliberated’ as to whether the resource was suitable or not. The verdict was presented to the researchers, followed by suggestions for improving the resource. With permission the verdict and subsequent discussion were audio-recorded.
Results: Eight first-time pregnant women participated. Their ages ranged from 19 to 35 years, half had a household income <$NZ30,000, one had no school qualifications while three had school certificate only. Two had a family history of diabetes. Friends, family and the internet were the most popular sources of nutritional information during this pregnancy. The verdict delivered by the women was ‘Yes’ the resource was good and they would use it. Minor suggestions to improve the content of the resource were provided by the women.
Conclusions: A citizen’s jury is a good method to obtain an independent assessment of written resources by end-users. The modified Diabetes NZ booklet appears to be a suitable source of nutritional advice for pregnant women.