Volume 27, Issue 132, February 2023

Socio-demographic predictors of knowledge, attitude and practice of antenatal exercise among pregnant women

Wael Alghamdi¹

¹Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Al Baha University, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia
ORCID: 0000-0002-2297-3255

ABSTRACT

Background and Aims: Physical exercises during the period of pregnancy have proved to be valuable to many pregnant women. This study aims to explore the knowledge, attitude and practice of exercise during pregnancy among antenatal mothers in Al Baha region. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was conducted in over sixteen months of pregnant women across two hospitals (i.e., King Fahad Hospital and Prince Mishari bin Saud Hospital) in the region of Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia. A total of 118 participants (pregnant women) were approached with a structured interview questionnaire administered by trained health personal. The study questionnaire was designed with 98 items. In this study, the analysis of the data was performed using R Studio software; this involved calculating descriptive statistics in order to highlight certain demographic details of the participants and the application of inferential statistics to verify the research hypotheses. Multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to evaluate the effect of the participants' knowledge, behaviour and attitude on their engagement with antenatal exercises during their pregnancy. Results: A multiple logistic regression analysis showed the knowledge about the antenatal exercises was approaching the significance regarding participants’ employment status and BMI classification. The results indicated that the participants’ employment status, age and Body Mass Index played a statistically significant role in predicting their attitudes towards and practice of antenatal exercises during their pregnancy. Results showed that overweight participants seemed to have inadequate practice of antenatal exercises during pregnancy than others. Conclusions: A majority of Saudi pregnant women demonstrate inadequate knowledge, but the practice and attitude of pregnant women were favourable.

Keywords: Knowledge, Practice, Attitude, Antenatal exercise, Physiotherapy, Pregnancy

Medical Science, 2023, 27, e92ms2886

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v27i132/e92ms2886

Published: 14 February 2023