GESTATIONAL DIABETES MELLITUS AMONG WOMEN ATHLETES IN TURKEY: A CASE OF WOMEN SPORTS HEALTH

Abstract

The term "pregnant athlete" is gaining much attention today due to the persistently increasing number of women athletes who continue participating in the game and other associated training sessions. However, during pregnancy, some women suffer from gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), which often impacts their overall physical performance and activities. However, sports federations in Turkey have provided no health-related guidelines regarding GMD. Therefore, this study focuses on screening tests for GDM in women athletes in Turkey. This study also determined different challenges and issues faced by women athletes suffering from GDM during their training sessions. For this purpose, an experimental and a qualitative approach were utilized. In the experiment approach, the "oral glucose tolerance test" (OGTT) criteria were used to carry out the screening tests of the target population. 120 participants were included based on the proposed inclusion and exclusion criteria. Most of these women did not have a family history of diabetes. However, in the second stage, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten randomly selected respondents among these 120 women athletes. After the interviews, transcription was analyzed via NVivo and thematic analysis was conducted. The results showed that the pregnant women athletes did not have proper health-related guidelines and often faced issues in managing their diet and exercise regime. Therefore, this study has also effectively provided important practical and theoretical implications.