Motivators and barriers to a healthy postpartum lifestyle in women at increased cardiovascular and metabolic risk: a focus-group study.

Objective: To describe the motivators and barriers to the adoption of a healthy postpartum lifestyle after a pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, and/or gestational diabetes.

Methods: Thirty-six women with complicated pregnancies participated in six focus-group interviews that aimed to explore the perceptions of modifiable determinants of postpartum lifestyle.

Results: Although women expressed that they intended to live a healthy postpartum lifestyle, it was generally not achieved. The motivators included improving their own current health condition as well as modeling a healthy lifestyle for their children. Important barriers were reported to be lack of knowledge, poor recovery, and lack of professional support after delivery.

Conclusions: The reported motivators and barriers can be used to develop a postpartum lifestyle intervention.