Okeke Humphrey, Ifediora Lotachukwu, Ogungbe Christian
Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria.
Department of Physiotherapy, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku, Nigeria.
Womens Health Rep (New Rochelle). 2020 Oct 8;1(1):444-450. doi: 10.1089/whr.2020.0030. eCollection 2020.
Safe maternity and enhanced neonatal outcomes depend on suitable and comprehensive antenatal program for pregnant mothers. This makes it imperative to adopt strategies aimed at ensuring positive antenatal and postnatal experience for women. To this end, many health care organizations and antenatal clinics teach pregnant women pelvic floor muscle exercises (PFMEs) during their antenatal visits. This study was aimed at assessing the knowledge and actual practice of PFMEs among pregnant women who attend antenatal care in Enugu metropolis. Specifically to assess the level of knowledge of PFMEs among the pregnant women, assess the proportion of the women who practice PFMEs, ascertain whether there exists any difference between knowledge and actual practice of PFMEs, and to identify possible factors that affect compliance to PFMEs. Cross-sectional descriptive design was adopted for this study. Pretested structured questionnaire was administered to the sample of 252 antenatal women in selected antenatal clinics selected through simple random sampling. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Results show that although majority (71.0%) of the women were taught PFMEs, only 38.37% practice the exercise. The difference in proportion between those who were taught and those who practice PFMEs were statistically significant ( < 0.05). Major reasons by the respondents for noncompliance with the exercise routine include forgetting (40.4%), being too tired (35.9%), and being too busy (18.0%). Despite the relatively high level of knowledge of PFMEs, level of practice was low. Hence, it was recommended that antenatal care providers should explore ways of improving compliance with taught exercise regime such as helping the women identify/develop appropriate cues to exercise.
安全孕产和改善新生儿结局取决于为孕妇提供合适且全面的产前项目。因此，必须采取旨在确保女性拥有积极产前和产后体验的策略。为此，许多医疗保健组织和产前诊所会在孕妇产前检查期间教授她们盆底肌肉锻炼（PFMEs）。本研究旨在评估在埃努古都会区接受产前护理的孕妇对PFMEs的知识掌握情况和实际练习情况。具体而言，评估孕妇对PFMEs的知识水平，评估练习PFMEs的女性比例，确定PFMEs的知识与实际练习之间是否存在差异，并识别影响PFMEs依从性的可能因素。本研究采用横断面描述性设计。通过简单随机抽样，在选定的产前诊所对252名产前女性样本进行了预先测试的结构化问卷调查。使用SPSS 25版收集和分析数据。结果显示，尽管大多数（71.0%）女性接受了PFMEs的教导，但只有38.37%的女性进行了这项锻炼。接受教导的女性与实际练习的女性在比例上的差异具有统计学意义（<0.05）。受访者不遵守锻炼常规的主要原因包括忘记（40.4%）、太累（35.9%）和太忙（18.0%）。尽管对PFMEs的知识水平相对较高，但练习水平较低。因此，建议产前护理提供者探索提高对所教授锻炼方案依从性的方法，例如帮助女性识别/制定适当的锻炼提示。
