The effect of media on oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) status of pregnant women

This research was carried out in a descriptive and cross-sectional design to determine the effect of the media on the OGTT status of pregnant women admitted to a pregnancy policlinic in a hospital in Rize city center. The sample consisted of 384 pregnant women who were admitted to the pregnancy policlinic of TC Rize Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Training and Research Hospital between November 2018 and June 2019 and met the inclusion criteria. The data were collected using a questionnaire and face to face interview method. To analyze the data, number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, group chi-square, and Fisher exact tests were used. The results showed that the mean age of pregnant women was 29.480±5.580 years. It was determined that 60.4%of the pregnant women with less than 24 weeks gestational age did not intent to have an OGTT. The first three reasons for them were as follow; they found it unnecessary (35.9%), they thought that it was harmful to the baby (16.7%), and they learned from TV that it was harmful (13.0%). 44.3%of the women with more than 24 weeks of gestational age did not have an OGTT since they found it unnecessary (44.7%), they learned from TV that it was harmful (20.0%) and the physician thought that it was unnecessary (16.5%). The first three reasons of those who stated that they were affected by the news about OGTT in the media were as follows; the test is harmful (44.0%), they were indecisive about the test (31.0%), and they did not consider having the test due to the news (28.0%). It was seen that 54.1%of the pregnant women who were affected by the news about the OGTT in the media did not have OGTT, and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). The pregnant women who were housewives and had not performed OGTT in their previous pregnancy did not perform the test in their current pregnancy either, and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). Those who could openly ask questions to healthcare staff had a high rate of having an OGTT, and the difference was also statistically significant (p<0.05). As a result, it can be concluded that pregnant women are affected by news about the OGTT in the media.