The Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices towards Exercise among Women Attending Antenatal Care at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia | Chapter 06 | Advances in Applied Science and Technology Vol. 4
Introduction:
Appropriate exercises during
pregnancy have proved
to be beneficial
to many expectant mothers,
though how much
and what kind
of exercises varies
from person to
person. Gaining a greater understanding of women’s knowledge, attitudes
and practices about exercise during pregnancy may inform the design of exercise
interventions for this population to maximise exercise adherence and lifelong
physical activity patterns.
Aims:
The aim
of the study
was to obtain
information on the
knowledge, attitudes and
practices towards exercise among
women attending antenatal
care at the
University Teaching Hospital
in Lusaka, Zambia.
Methods:
This was a cross-sectional exploratory study. Data was collected using asemi
structured questionnaire and summarized
using descriptive statistics.
The chi-square test
was used to
test associations and the significance level was set at 5%.
Results:
Pregnant women practice
general physical activities
of daily living such
as walking and household chores during pregnancy. Threehundred
pregnant women participated in the study and majority (n=222)
74% showed inadequate levels of knowledge
on the type
of exercises done
in pregnancy. Knowledge and
attitude werepositively
associated with the
educational level (p<0.03) although exercise
practice in relation
to the educational
level was insignificant. The
number of pregnancies were also
positively associated with the pregnant women’s knowledge (p=0.001), attitude
(p<0.01) and practice (p=0.01) towards exercise in pregnancy.
Conclusions:
Pregnant women practice general physical activities of daily living such as
walking and household chores during
pregnancy. Additionally, their
information on exercise
lacked detail, was inconsistent and with little specificity.
This implies that during
antenatal health talks information on exercise activities given to
the pregnant may be lacking detail Health professionals who are experts in exercise
sciences must be involved to provide correct and adequate information on
exercises to the women. This is because engaging in exercise activities for
pregnant women will only help maintain fitness levels but also, contribute to
the reduction of discomforts and prevention of diseases such as gestational
diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis and back pain disabilities.
Author(s) Details
Loveness A. Nkhata
University of Zambia,
Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, P.O. Box 50110, Lusaka,
Zabia.
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