Exercise During Pregnancy: Knowledge and Beliefs Among Females in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

BackgroundExercise during pregnancy helps to promote health benefits for both the mother and fetus. One of the concerns among Saudi pregnant women is physical inactivity. The objective of this study was to assess females' knowledge, beliefs, and practices toward exercise during pregnancy in Saudi Arabia. Also, we investigated the most common barriers to exercising during pregnancy. MethodsThe study was a cross-sectional study that included all Saudi females aged 18 years and above and excluded non-Saudi females and those aged less than 18 years. A self-administered survey was distributed on social media platforms. The collected data were coded and analyzed using SPSS version 23 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). ResultsA total of 1207 participants were enrolled in the study. In regards to general knowledge and awareness levels, 1002 (83%) participants had a high level of knowledge and awareness, and 205 (17%) had a low level of knowledge and awareness. Exercise during pregnancy is essential was agreed on by 853 (70.7%) participants. The most reported sources of information on prenatal exercise were found to be websites, as reported by 56.7% of the participants. About 42.4% of the participants were sometimes exercising during pregnancy. The most common type of antenatal exercise was found to be walking, as mentioned by 83.5% of the participants. The most commonly reported barrier to practicing antenatal exercises was found to be fatigue, as reported by 53.9% of the participants, and lack of time. Age was found to be significantly associated with the level of beliefs, awareness, and knowledge regarding antenatal care. A statistically significant association was found between marital status and level of beliefs, awareness, and knowledge regarding antenatal care with married participants tending to be having a higher level of knowledge and awareness compared to other groups. Occupation and level of beliefs, awareness, and knowledge regarding antenatal care were found to be significantly associated. ConclusionWe found good general knowledge and awareness levels regarding exercise during pregnancy. Beliefs toward exercise during pregnancy were below average. Future studies on how to promote regular exercise during pregnancy are recommended.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of Kegel exercise among pregnant women in Abha, Saudi Arabia

“…Women's knowledge concerning the kegel exercise in the postnatal period was found reasonable and their attitude was favourable, but the mothers had the poor practice of Kegel exercises in a study conducted in Al Madinah Al Munawarah, Saudi Arabia (16). Another multiregional study from Saudi Arabia found good general knowledge and awareness levels regarding exercise during pregnancy (17).…”

A Cross-Sectional Survey of Australian Women’s Perspectives and Experiences of Exercise During Pregnancy, Including Women that Experience Mental Illness

“…However in Ethiopia, only 52% of the 403 participants believed that exercise is safe during pregnancy (Janakiraman et al, 2021). A theoretic explanation for this drop in the percentage from USA to Saudi to Ethiopia, might be as a result of the different cultures, as it was previously reported in both Saudi Arabian and Ethiopian reports that the majority of pregnant women believe that physical exercise would cause a miscarriage, early delivery and low birth weight, also it might be harmful to their health during pregnancy (Addis et al, 2022;Gari et al, 2022;Hjorth et al, 2012;Musaiger et al, 2012); however this belief has recently started to change (Addis et al, 2022;Gari et al, 2022).…”