Knowledge and Compliance to Prenatal Exercises among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic of University of Benin Teaching Hospital

Abstract

This study investigated the knowledge and compliance to prenatal exercises among pregnant women attending Antenatal Clinic of University of Benin Teaching Hospital. This study is a descriptive survey conducted in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, a tertiary healthcare institution in South-South Nigeria. The target population of the study included all antenatal mothers in attendance in University of Benin Teaching Hospital at the time of conducting the study which totaled 350. A total of 184 respondents were selected from the target population using the convenience sampling technique. The instrument for the study was a structured validated questionnaire titled “Knowledge and Compliance to Prenatal Exercises among Pregnant Women Questionnaire (KCPEPWQ)” with a reliability index of 0.82. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (SPSS) version 16. Results revealed that out of the 184 respondents studied, 115(62.5%) had poor knowledge, 12(6.50%) had fair knowledge while 57((31.05%) had good knowledge about prenatal exercises; 59(32.1%) were compliant with prenatal exercises recommendation while 125(67.9%) were not compliant with prenatal exercises guidelines; the factors influencing the compliance of mothers to prenatal exercises include the belief that exercise is unhealthy during pregnancy, poor knowledge of the merits and demerits of prenatal exercises, safety concerns, poor educational status, feeling of tiredness, not feeling like exercising, busy schedule, previous involvement in regular exercise, fear of the unknown, a lot of child care activities. There is therefore the need for increased awareness on the usefulness of prenatal exercise to pregnant women and as much as possible pregnant women should be encouraged to practice prenatal exercises as part of their daily routine.