Browsing by Author "Alhajiri, Donna Nassir"

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ANTENATAL EXERCISE AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG SAUDI PREGNANT WOMEN
(George Mason University, 2024) Alhajiri, Donna Nassir; Oh, Kyeung Mi
Background: Regular physical exercise during pregnancy can help reduce the risk of complications for both the mother and the fetus. Globally, women’s exercise during pregnancy is low and decreases as pregnancy progresses. In Saudi Arabia, women’s antenatal exercise practices are understudied. There is an increase in women’s obesity and pregnancy-related weight gain, a lack of health counseling, and a lack of antenatal exercise guidelines. There is a need to explore the level of antenatal exercise and its associated factors. The findings can be used to develop culturally appropriate antenatal exercise education and counseling programs for Saudi pregnant women. Purpose of the study: To assess antenatal exercise adherence to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) exercise during pregnancy guidelines and its associated factors among Saudi pregnant women. Method: This is an exploratory, cross-sectional, and descriptive study. Data was collected using a self-reported questionnaire. The target population of this study was Saudi pregnant women. A convenient sampling method was used to include women 18 to 45 years old, living in the eastern province with a single, alive fetus and a normal pregnancy, naturally conceived, and who can read and write in Arabic. Exclusion criteria were women with a high-risk pregnancy, a medical problem except for diabetes mellitus, a psychological condition, or a mental or physical disability. In an exploratory manner, facilitators, and barriers as independent variables on intrapersonal, interpersonal, environmental, organizational, and policy levels were included to assess their associations with antenatal exercise. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the study sample’s characteristics, women’s levels of knowledge, attitude, and adherence to the ACOG antenatal exercise guidelines, in addition to antenatal exercise facilitators, and barriers on intrapersonal, interpersonal, environmental, organizational, and policy levels. Bivariate relationships between antenatal exercise and its associated factors were assessed using the independent t-tests and Chi-square tests. Finally, the associations of demographic characteristics, women’s knowledge, attitude, antenatal exercise facilitators, and barriers on intrapersonal, interpersonal, environmental, organizational, and policy levels factors with antenatal exercise were assessed using logistic regression analyses after assessing the assumptions. Statistical significance was tested at p ˂0.05.
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