KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE AMONG ANTENATAL ATTENDEES OF ONDO STATE SPECIALIST HOSPITAL AKURE, ONDO STATE

Abstract

The non-performance of antenatal exercise is the fourth-leading risk factor for early mortality worldwide with Nigeria having the worst statistics of maternal death. The types of problems that pregnant women experience could be traced to non-performance of physical exercise which has become a Public Health concern in Nigeria and across the globe. Earlier studies in some hospitals in Ondo had focused on causes of maternal and child health, hence the need to investigate the knowledge and perception of physical exercise among the antenatal attendees of Ondo State Specialist Hospital, Akure. This descriptive cross-sectional study employed a semi- structured questionnaire to elicit information on respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, perception, perceived benefits as well as promoting and inhibiting factors of antenatal exercise. Knowledge level was measured on a 40-point scale; scores ≤25, ≥26-28, and ≥29 were categorized as poor, fair and good respectively. chi square test and logistic regression at p=0.05.Respondents’ age was 30.4±5.6 years, 61.8% fell between 21 and 31 years age group and slightly below half of the total number of pregnant women have more than one child (48.1). About 188(78.0%) had good knowledge of antenatal exercise while 38 (15.8%) and 15 (6.2%) had fair and poor knowledge respectively. Majority 214(88.8%) of the respondents perceived that physical exercise can help and maintain healthy bones of the mother and the growing foetus while 189(78.4%) perceived that it can help reduce excess weight gain in pregnancy. More than three quarter 198(82.2%) of the respondents perceived that some health complications which may appear in pregnancy can be reduced through physical exercise while quite a number of the respondents 211(87.6%) and 193 (80.1%) perceived that physical exercise makes them agile and active respectively in pregnancy. More than one third 79(32.8%) perceived negatively that physical exercise is not important for pregnant women, while more than half, 124(51.5%) and 136(56.4%) perceived that they are at perception score was 10.59 points with the minimum and maximum knowledge being 1 and 15 points respectively. Majority 220(91.3%) of the respondents had good perception while 21(8.7%) had poor perception. There was no significant association between respondents’ age and physical exercise knowledge as well as between respondents’ number of children and physical exercise knowledge. However, educational level and occupation of the respondents had a role to play in their physical exercise knowledge while their perception had no association with their educational qualifications. Though knowledge and perception of physical activity among respondents were good, but there is still need for awareness or practice of some types of antenatal exercises such as, handball, table tennis, basketball and table tennis among pregnant women.