Exercise during pregnancy improves women's psychological well-being, reduces caesarean section rates, risk of being overweight during pregnancy, lower back pain, and length of labor and recovery time. However, physical inactivity during pregnancy is a major problem in most low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa and often this contributes to the risk of adverse pregnancies and birth outcomes that creates significant maternal care costs such as, increased caesarean section rates, increased health care utilization, and increased length of hospital stay. We determined the level of knowledge and practice of exercise during pregnancy among pregnant women who were receiving antenatal care in selected public health facilities in Lusaka, Zambia. We also assessed factors associated with knowledge and practice of physical exercise among participants. A descriptive study was conducted among 250 pregnant women and data was collected using the modified knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) questionnaire. Descriptive analysis of data was conducted in Stata version 20.0 for windows and the multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to evaluate the relationships between the study variables at 0.05 statistical level of significance. Most of the participants (78%) had sufficient knowledge about exercise and engaged in some form of exercise activities regularly during pregnancy of which walking was the commonest (49%) mode of physical exercise. Further, majority of them (75%) indicated medical personnel as their main source of knowledge. Skilled health workers have a vital role to play in the provision of information on physical activity among pregnant women during ANC. Their activity including that of exercise experts must be encouraged to improve participation and effective practice of exercise during pregnancy. The outcomes on exercise activities such as walking are very practical for LMICs settings and must be promoted because they are easily accessible, can be performed at home and requires minimal equipment.
| Published in | American Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences (Volume 5, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.13 |
| Page(s) | 17-22 |
| 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), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Exercise, Pregnancy, Antenatal, Care
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APA Style
Phiri, M., Likwa, R. N., Mweshi, M. M., Nkhata, L. A. (2024). Knowledge and Practice of Exercise During Pregnancy Among Pregnant Women Receiving Antenatal Care in Selected Public Health Facilities in Lusaka, Zambia. American Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences, 5(1), 17-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.13
ACS Style
Phiri, M.; Likwa, R. N.; Mweshi, M. M.; Nkhata, L. A. Knowledge and Practice of Exercise During Pregnancy Among Pregnant Women Receiving Antenatal Care in Selected Public Health Facilities in Lusaka, Zambia. Am. J. Nurs. Health Sci. 2024, 5(1), 17-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.13
AMA Style
Phiri M, Likwa RN, Mweshi MM, Nkhata LA. Knowledge and Practice of Exercise During Pregnancy Among Pregnant Women Receiving Antenatal Care in Selected Public Health Facilities in Lusaka, Zambia. Am J Nurs Health Sci. 2024;5(1):17-22. doi: 10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.13,
author = {Margaret Phiri and Rosemary Ndonyo Likwa and Margaret Mutale Mweshi and Loveness Anila Nkhata},
title = {Knowledge and Practice of Exercise During Pregnancy Among Pregnant Women Receiving Antenatal Care in Selected Public Health Facilities in Lusaka, Zambia},
journal = {American Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences},
volume = {5},
number = {1},
pages = {17-22},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajnhs.20240501.13},
abstract = {Exercise during pregnancy improves women's psychological well-being, reduces caesarean section rates, risk of being overweight during pregnancy, lower back pain, and length of labor and recovery time. However, physical inactivity during pregnancy is a major problem in most low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa and often this contributes to the risk of adverse pregnancies and birth outcomes that creates significant maternal care costs such as, increased caesarean section rates, increased health care utilization, and increased length of hospital stay. We determined the level of knowledge and practice of exercise during pregnancy among pregnant women who were receiving antenatal care in selected public health facilities in Lusaka, Zambia. We also assessed factors associated with knowledge and practice of physical exercise among participants. A descriptive study was conducted among 250 pregnant women and data was collected using the modified knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) questionnaire. Descriptive analysis of data was conducted in Stata version 20.0 for windows and the multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to evaluate the relationships between the study variables at 0.05 statistical level of significance. Most of the participants (78%) had sufficient knowledge about exercise and engaged in some form of exercise activities regularly during pregnancy of which walking was the commonest (49%) mode of physical exercise. Further, majority of them (75%) indicated medical personnel as their main source of knowledge. Skilled health workers have a vital role to play in the provision of information on physical activity among pregnant women during ANC. Their activity including that of exercise experts must be encouraged to improve participation and effective practice of exercise during pregnancy. The outcomes on exercise activities such as walking are very practical for LMICs settings and must be promoted because they are easily accessible, can be performed at home and requires minimal equipment.
},
year = {2024}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Knowledge and Practice of Exercise During Pregnancy Among Pregnant Women Receiving Antenatal Care in Selected Public Health Facilities in Lusaka, Zambia AU - Margaret Phiri AU - Rosemary Ndonyo Likwa AU - Margaret Mutale Mweshi AU - Loveness Anila Nkhata Y1 - 2024/01/18 PY - 2024 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.13 T2 - American Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences JF - American Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences JO - American Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences SP - 17 EP - 22 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2994-7227 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajnhs.20240501.13 AB - Exercise during pregnancy improves women's psychological well-being, reduces caesarean section rates, risk of being overweight during pregnancy, lower back pain, and length of labor and recovery time. However, physical inactivity during pregnancy is a major problem in most low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa and often this contributes to the risk of adverse pregnancies and birth outcomes that creates significant maternal care costs such as, increased caesarean section rates, increased health care utilization, and increased length of hospital stay. We determined the level of knowledge and practice of exercise during pregnancy among pregnant women who were receiving antenatal care in selected public health facilities in Lusaka, Zambia. We also assessed factors associated with knowledge and practice of physical exercise among participants. A descriptive study was conducted among 250 pregnant women and data was collected using the modified knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) questionnaire. Descriptive analysis of data was conducted in Stata version 20.0 for windows and the multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to evaluate the relationships between the study variables at 0.05 statistical level of significance. Most of the participants (78%) had sufficient knowledge about exercise and engaged in some form of exercise activities regularly during pregnancy of which walking was the commonest (49%) mode of physical exercise. Further, majority of them (75%) indicated medical personnel as their main source of knowledge. Skilled health workers have a vital role to play in the provision of information on physical activity among pregnant women during ANC. Their activity including that of exercise experts must be encouraged to improve participation and effective practice of exercise during pregnancy. The outcomes on exercise activities such as walking are very practical for LMICs settings and must be promoted because they are easily accessible, can be performed at home and requires minimal equipment. VL - 5 IS - 1 ER -
Department of Physiotherapy, Kabwe Women New Born and Children’s Hospital, Kabwe, Zambia
Department of Population Studies and Global Health, School of Public Health, University of Zambia, Ridgeway Campus, Lusaka, Zambia
Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Zambia, Ridgeway Campus, Lusaka, Zambia
Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, University of Zambia, Ridgeway Campus, Lusaka, Zambia
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