What is the Relationship between Gestational Diabetes and Development of Diabetes?
What is the Relationship between Gestational Diabetes and Development of Diabetes?
Introduction
Gestational diabetes (GD) is a medical condition that is characterized by abnormal blood sugar level among pregnant women (Makgoba & Steer, 2012). The rise in sugar levels is usually caused by changes in body hormones as a result of the pregnancy. Though the sugar level of women suffering from GD goes back to normal after birth, studies have revealed that most women who suffer from this GD are prone to develop diabetes later on in life (Makgoba & Steer, 2012). Many studies have addressed the relationship between GD and development of diabetes among pregnant women who suffer from GD. However, few studies have studied whether GD can result in development of diabetes among children born of women suffering from this condition. This paper seeks to explore this relationship. One of the symptoms associated with GD is birth of overweight children. These children may retain their overweight status as they grow increasing their chance of developing diabetes.
Data
This paper explores the relationship between GD and development of the diabetic condition. What the researcher knows is that Diabetes has a pandemic disease among the American population. The researcher is also aware that there is a close affiliation between GD and development of diabetes in women who suffer from this condition, later in life. Research studies have also proven that women suffering from GD have a tendency of giving birth to overweight babies. However, it is not clear whether GD condition increases the risk of developing diabetes among children at later stages of life (Makgoba & Steer, 2012). In order to answer this question various types of data must be collected. The researcher must collect data on children born of mothers with GD condition. The researcher must also collect data concerning children born of mothers with GD condition who develop diabetes at later stages of life. The researcher must also collect facts and statistics concerning the presence of other risks factors for diabetes
The above data can be obtained from various databases with the Walden Library. One of these databases is Medline. This is a database that offers reliable information and statistics of various healthcare topics. Through this database, the research will be able to obtain primary literatures such as peer reviewed journals and medical reports. Another database that can be used to get data is the Ebscohost database. This is a general research database that provides researchers with both primary and secondary literatures. The researchers can use various search words in order to retrieve materials. These search words include; gestational diabetes; impact of gestational diabetes on children; risks factors for diabetes; gestational diabetes statistics and many others.
Information
Information refers to facts that have been organized and interpreted in order to make them meaningful in a particular setting (The American Nurses Association, 2001). In this case, the researcher needs to organize and interpret the information collected in step 1 above, so as to make these facts useful in answering the research question. The process involves analyzing gathered facts in order to recognize patterns and themes. Various options are available to the researcher when it comes to organizing the collected data. The first option is to use a statistical approach in defining the relationship between GD and development of diabetes among children born of mothers with GD condition. The statistical approach relies on statistical tools to define variables and explore the relationship between variables (Bryrne, 2007). Example of descriptive statistical tools include; frequencies percentages, average, means and median. Statistical tools that are used to define the relationship between variables are referred to as inferential statistical tools (Bryrne, 2007). These include; t-test, linear regression, cross tabulation and many others. GD and diabetes among children born of women with GD condition are the two main variables in this study. This can be analyzed by the statistical tools mentioned above.
The second option that is available to the researcher is to use qualitative techniques in organizing information. Qualitative techniques are mainly used to analyze non-numerical facts (Renner & Powell, 2003). Qualitative techniques involve analyzing the various literature and identifying common themes and patterns. These patterns and themes are then organized into logical groups that bring meaning the research question. However, this technique is mainly effective in explaining why a relationship between variables exist rather telling whether the relationship exist or not. Thus, this technique will be more useful in telling us why there is a relationship between GD and diabetic condition among children (Renner & Powell, 2003). The third option for the researcher is to use both quantitative and qualitative techniques in organizing data. Use of quantitative techniques will ensure that the relationship between the two medical conditions is identified while qualitative techniques will explain why this relationship exists.
Knowledge
Knowledge refers to information that has been processed (The American Nurses Association, 2001). Information must be turned into knowledge in order for it to have an impact on a particular field or organization. Turning information into knowledge will enable nursing practitioner to apply it in making decisions and solving problems (Mills, 2006). Information collected in this study can only be turned into knowledge if the researcher is able to integrate it with tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge originates from personal experiences, ideas, opinion and views. In order to make information that has been discovered during research useful in making a difference, this information must be integrated with experiences, ideas and personal opinion of intended users of this information (Mills, 2006). The users must filter this information through the existing paradigms in order to articulate this information. This will facilitate easier understanding of the information that has been presented by the study. They must also allow the information to challenge existing paradigms in order to create new views and opinions. For instance, in this case, the researcher must integrate the information obtained about GD and development of diabetes among children with the views and opinions that existed prior to the study. He must also allow the information discovered to challenge preexisting views and opinion that are not consistent with the new findings.
Wisdom
Wisdom refers to the ability to apply the knowledge obtained from the research process in a manner that brings about a positive difference (The American Nurses Association, 2001). Understanding the relationship between GD and development of diabetes among children born to women suffering from GD is just one step. In order to make this knowledge useful, healthcare practitioners must find the implication of this knowledge to practice (Mills, 2006). They must be in a position to apply this knowledge to make better and informed decisions during practice. This is what wisdom is all about; taking the knowledge that has been acquired during research and using it to inform administrative and practice decisions.
References
Bryrne G. (2007). “Understanding Descriptive and Inferential Statistics”. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. 2 (1)
Makgoba M & Steer J. (2012). “The Effect of Maternal Characteristics and Gestational Diabetes on Birthweight”. Obstetrics and Gynecology International Journal. 119 (9): 1091- 1097
Mills L. (2006). Transforming Data into Knowledge. October 1, 2012. http://www.nassp.org/portals/0/content/54350.pdf
Renner M. & Powell E. (2003). Analyzing Qualitative Data. September 30, 2012. http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/g3658-12.pdf
The American Nurses Association. (2008). “Nursing informatics: Scope & standards of practice”. Silver Springs
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