Introduction: In the absence of medical or obstetrical complications, pregnant women are encouraged to continue and maintain active lifestyles during their pregnancies. Benefits of exercise during pregnancy include; prevention of excessive gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, undergoing a caesarean section and reduced low back pain. The aim of the study was to obtain information on exercise practice among women attending antenatal care at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia and establish whether, educational level, number of pregnancies and cultural background had an influence on exercise practice during pregnancy. Methods: We collected data using a self- administered questionnaire in a cross sectional, exploratory study and summarized data using descriptive statistics. The chi-square test was used to test association between variables and the significance level was set at 5%. Results: Three hundred women participated in the survey. The majority of the respondents 74% (n=222) exhibited inadequate levels of knowledge on exercise and the type of ideal exercises. Exercise practice in relation to the educational levels was insignificant. However, cultural background had a significant association to the women’s exercise practice (p-value 0.025). In addition, the number of pregnancies was positively associated to the women’s exercise practice (p-value 0.01) during pregnancy. Conclusions: Pregnant women practice general physical activities of daily living such as walking and household chores during pregnancy. They do not know the specific antenatal exercises. Consequently, they are not able to practice the ideal exercise during pregnancy. This highlights the need for Physiotherapy personnel to be actively involved during antenatal to educate pregnant women on the ideal exercise activities.
| Published in | Science Journal of Public Health (Volume 3, Issue 3) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.sjph.20150303.19 |
| Page(s) | 361-365 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Antenatal, Exercise, Knowledge, Practice, Pregnancy, Physiotherapy
| [1] | Mottola, M.F, and McLaughlin, R. (2011) Exercise and Pregnancy: Canadian Guidelines for Health Care Professionals. Wellspring, 22(4), A1-A4. |
| [2] | American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ACOG) and Committee on Obstetric Practice, (2002) “Exercise during pregnancy and the postpartum period’. ACOG Committee Opinion Number 267,” Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 99(1), 171–173. |
| [3] | Clark A.M (2005) Promoting exercise during pregnancy: A qualitative study of pregnant women, birth partners and health professionals in Scotland. University of Glasgow. |
| [4] | Zavorsky G. S& Longo, L. D. (2011).Exercise Guidelines in Pregnancy. Sports Medicine, 41(5), 345-360. |
| [5] | McLaughlin L and Braun K. (1998) “Asian and Pacific Islander cultural values: Considerations for health care decision-making.” Health and Social Work, 23 (2), 116-126. |
| [6] | Piravej K and Sakisirinukul R (2001) Survey of exercise patterns, attitudes and the general effects of exercise during pregnancy in 203 Thai Women at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thailand. www.pubmed.gov |
| [7] | Paisley T.S, Joy E.A and Price R.J (2003) Exercise during pregnancy a practical approach. www.pubmed.gov |
| [8] | Ribeiro C.P and Milanez H (2011)Knowledge, attitude and practice of women in Campinas, S˜ao Paulo, Brazil with respect to physical exercise in pregnancy: a descriptive study. Reproductive Health, 8(1), 1-7 |
| [9] | Mbada C.E, Adebayo O.E, Adeyemi A.E, Arije O.O, Dada O.O, Akinwande O.A, Awotidebe, T.O and Alonge I.O (2014) Knowledge and Attitude of Nigerian Pregnant Women towards Antenatal Exercise: A Cross-Sectional Survey. ISRN Obstetrics and Gynecology, Article ID 260539, 1-8 |
| [10] | Weallens E, Clark A.M, Mutrie N and Gaudoin M (2003) Attitudes and beliefs of Primegravidae women to exercise during pregnancy. Health Educational Journal, Glasgow, Scotland. |
| [11] | Evenson K.R, Moos M, Carrier K, and Siega-Riz A. M, (2009) Perceived barriers to physical activity among pregnant women. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 13(3), 364–375. |
| [12] | Duncombe D, Wertheim E. H, Skouteris H, Paxton S. J, and Kelly L, (2009) Factors related to exercise over the course of pregnancy including women’s beliefs about the safety of exercise during pregnancy. Midwifery, 25(4), 430–438. |
| [13] | Wang T.W and Apgar B.S (2000) Exercise during pregnancy. American Family Physician, 57(8), 1846–1852. |
| [14] | Clapp J.F (2000) Beginning regular exercise in early pregnancy: Effects on fetoplacental growth. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 183:6-10 |
| [15] | Helman, C.G (1994) Culture, Health and Illness: An Introduction for Health Professionals. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, England. 101-145. |
APA Style
Loveness A. Nkhata, Esther Munalula-Nkandu, Hastings Shula. (2015). Exercise Practice Among Women Attending Antenatal Care at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambiaq. Science Journal of Public Health, 3(3), 361-365. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20150303.19
ACS Style
Loveness A. Nkhata; Esther Munalula-Nkandu; Hastings Shula. Exercise Practice Among Women Attending Antenatal Care at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambiaq. Sci. J. Public Health 2015, 3(3), 361-365. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20150303.19
AMA Style
Loveness A. Nkhata, Esther Munalula-Nkandu, Hastings Shula. Exercise Practice Among Women Attending Antenatal Care at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambiaq. Sci J Public Health. 2015;3(3):361-365. doi: 10.11648/j.sjph.20150303.19
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.sjph.20150303.19,
author = {Loveness A. Nkhata and Esther Munalula-Nkandu and Hastings Shula},
title = {Exercise Practice Among Women Attending Antenatal Care at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambiaq},
journal = {Science Journal of Public Health},
volume = {3},
number = {3},
pages = {361-365},
doi = {10.11648/j.sjph.20150303.19},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20150303.19},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjph.20150303.19},
abstract = {Introduction: In the absence of medical or obstetrical complications, pregnant women are encouraged to continue and maintain active lifestyles during their pregnancies. Benefits of exercise during pregnancy include; prevention of excessive gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, undergoing a caesarean section and reduced low back pain. The aim of the study was to obtain information on exercise practice among women attending antenatal care at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia and establish whether, educational level, number of pregnancies and cultural background had an influence on exercise practice during pregnancy. Methods: We collected data using a self- administered questionnaire in a cross sectional, exploratory study and summarized data using descriptive statistics. The chi-square test was used to test association between variables and the significance level was set at 5%. Results: Three hundred women participated in the survey. The majority of the respondents 74% (n=222) exhibited inadequate levels of knowledge on exercise and the type of ideal exercises. Exercise practice in relation to the educational levels was insignificant. However, cultural background had a significant association to the women’s exercise practice (p-value 0.025). In addition, the number of pregnancies was positively associated to the women’s exercise practice (p-value 0.01) during pregnancy. Conclusions: Pregnant women practice general physical activities of daily living such as walking and household chores during pregnancy. They do not know the specific antenatal exercises. Consequently, they are not able to practice the ideal exercise during pregnancy. This highlights the need for Physiotherapy personnel to be actively involved during antenatal to educate pregnant women on the ideal exercise activities.},
year = {2015}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Exercise Practice Among Women Attending Antenatal Care at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambiaq AU - Loveness A. Nkhata AU - Esther Munalula-Nkandu AU - Hastings Shula Y1 - 2015/04/27 PY - 2015 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20150303.19 DO - 10.11648/j.sjph.20150303.19 T2 - Science Journal of Public Health JF - Science Journal of Public Health JO - Science Journal of Public Health SP - 361 EP - 365 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2328-7950 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjph.20150303.19 AB - Introduction: In the absence of medical or obstetrical complications, pregnant women are encouraged to continue and maintain active lifestyles during their pregnancies. Benefits of exercise during pregnancy include; prevention of excessive gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, undergoing a caesarean section and reduced low back pain. The aim of the study was to obtain information on exercise practice among women attending antenatal care at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia and establish whether, educational level, number of pregnancies and cultural background had an influence on exercise practice during pregnancy. Methods: We collected data using a self- administered questionnaire in a cross sectional, exploratory study and summarized data using descriptive statistics. The chi-square test was used to test association between variables and the significance level was set at 5%. Results: Three hundred women participated in the survey. The majority of the respondents 74% (n=222) exhibited inadequate levels of knowledge on exercise and the type of ideal exercises. Exercise practice in relation to the educational levels was insignificant. However, cultural background had a significant association to the women’s exercise practice (p-value 0.025). In addition, the number of pregnancies was positively associated to the women’s exercise practice (p-value 0.01) during pregnancy. Conclusions: Pregnant women practice general physical activities of daily living such as walking and household chores during pregnancy. They do not know the specific antenatal exercises. Consequently, they are not able to practice the ideal exercise during pregnancy. This highlights the need for Physiotherapy personnel to be actively involved during antenatal to educate pregnant women on the ideal exercise activities. VL - 3 IS - 3 ER -
Email: