Research Article | | Peer-Reviewed

Knowledge and Practice of Exercise During Pregnancy Among Pregnant Women Receiving Antenatal Care in Selected Public Health Facilities in Lusaka, Zambia

Received: 26 December 2023     Accepted: 5 January 2024     Published: 18 January 2024
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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.

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

Keywords

Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Exercise, Pregnancy, Antenatal, Care

References
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[2] Whitaker, K. M., Baruth, M., Wilcox, S., Lui, J., Blair S. N., Pate, R, R. Pregnant women’s perceptions of weight gain, physical activity, and nutrition using Theory of Planned Behavior constructs. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 2016, 39(1), 41-54. DOI: 10.1007/s10865-015-9672-z https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26335313
[3] American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. ACOG Committee Opinion #267: Exercise during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2002, 99: 171-173. Recommendations Regarding Exercise during Pregnancy Made by Private/Small Group Practice Obstetricians in the USA. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259387911_Recommendations_Regarding_Exercise_During_Pregnancy_Made_by_PrivateSmall_Group_Practice_Obstetricians_in_the_USA [accessed Dec 26 2023].
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[5] Nkhata, L. A., Nkandu, E. M., Shula, H. K., Mweshi, M. M. Attitude to Exercise in Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. Journal of Preventive and Rehabilitative Medicine. 2016, 1(1): 22-26. https://doi.org/10.21617/jprm.2016.0101.4
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[9] Ministry of Health (2018) National Health Strategic Plan draft report 2006-2011: Lusaka, Zambia
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[11] Ribeiro, C. P., Milanez, H. Knowledge, attitude and practice of women in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil with respect to physical exercise in pregnancy: a descriptive study. Reprod Health. 2011. 8: 31. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4755-8-31
[12] Janakiraman, B., Gebreyesus, T., Yihunie, M., & Genet, M. G. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of antenatal exercises among pregnant women in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study. PLOS ONE. 2011, 16(2), e0247533. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247533
[13] Negash, B. T., Alelgn, Y. Knowledge, attitude and practice of physical exercises among pregnant women attending prenatal care clinics of public health institutions in Hawassa city, Sidama, Ethiopia, in 2021: descriptive cross-sectional study. BMC Women's Health. 2023, 23: 630. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02756-8
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Cite This Article
  • 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

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    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

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    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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  • @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}
    }
    

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    AU  - Margaret Phiri
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    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. 
    
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Author Information
  • 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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