Looking Beyond the Bump: a holistic approach to women’s health in a COVID-19 world

The overall aim of this thesis was to explore and investigate lifestyle interventions to reduce diabetes risk by; (1) incorporating postmeal walking in the management of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and (2) increasing physical activity levels in postpartum women. Pregnancy and postpartum periods present many barriers to partaking in healthy behaviours. The complexities of motherhood and the increase of subsequent barriers (incl. financial burden, time poor) have been widely reported, however strategies to improve uptake of healthy behaviours in pregnancy/postpartum periods, and during the COVID-19 pandemic are warranted.