# Implementing clinical guidelines for gestational weight gain care: a novel application of best–worst scaling to prioritise barriers

## TL;DR

This study uses a novel survey method to identify and rank barriers that prevent healthcare providers from following guidelines for managing gestational weight gain during pregnancy.

## Contribution

The study introduces best–worst scaling to prioritize barriers to implementing gestational weight gain care guidelines among antenatal care providers.

## Key findings

- The most important barrier across all sites was that guideline care for gestational weight gain was not seen as a high priority compared to other job aspects.
- Medical staff were more likely than midwives to report forgetting and lack of confidence as barriers to specific care practices.
- Barriers varied in importance across different healthcare sites and professions, suggesting the need for tailored implementation strategies.

## Abstract

Antenatal clinical guidelines recommending the provision of care for gestational weight gain (GWG) are not routinely delivered by antenatal care providers (ACPs). Determining barriers to such care delivery can inform the development of targeted strategies to improve implementation. However, no previous studies have identified which barriers are most important.

A best–worst scaling (BWS) survey was developed to estimate the magnitude and rank the importance of barriers to the delivery of recommended GWG care. The survey was conducted between December 2020 and November 2021 with ACPs (medical, midwifery, and Aboriginal health workers) who provided care in public maternity services within three sites in New South Wales, Australia. ACPs were asked to select which of four barriers were most and least likely to inhibit five recommended GWG care practices (assessment of GWG; advice on GWG, diet and physical activity; and referral to specialist GWG services). Rankings of barriers were determined through choice frequency analysis for ACPs at each site.

A total of 143 ACPs completed the survey (64.4% response rate). For each of the five recommended GWG care practices, the most important barrier across all health sites and for both midwives and medical ACPs was ‘compared to other aspects of my job, the guideline care is not a high priority.’ There was some variation in the importance of barriers between sites. Across all sites, medical staff were more likely than midwives to report ‘I forget’ as a barrier to weighing and providing weight tracking and dietary advice and ‘I don’t feel confident (providing this GWG care practice)’ as a barrier to providing referrals to a specialist GWG service.

Best–worst scaling was a valuable method to rank the influence of barriers and to prioritise site-specific and profession-based barriers to ACP provision of guideline-recommended care for GWG. Not all barriers were equally important, and this ‘hierarchy’ differed across ACPs and sites. Implementation strategies should be developed to address the highest priority barriers, tailored to site and professional needs.

Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12621000054819 (22/01/2021). http://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=380680&isReview=true

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-025-13108-7.