Abstract
Objective
To assess knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) among Thai pregnant women.
Patients and Methods
One hundred and ten Thai pregnant women who attended the antenatal clinic of a tertiary care hospital were recruited. They were classified as “aware” if they could recognize PFMT. Questionnaires regarding the participants’ attitudes and practice toward PFMT were subsequently collected from “aware” group.
Results
The mean ±SD of age and gestational age were 30.5 ±5.4 years and 20.8 ±10.8 weeks, respectively. Sixty-one participants (55.5%) recognized PFMT, but only seventeen (27.9%) correctly answered all of the questions, which is classified as perceptive. There was no association between their educational level and PFMT knowledge (p = 0.63). Most of them (98.4%) understood that PFMT can be performed during pregnancy and believed that PFMT did not affect the pregnancy outcomes. However, only 10.7% of the aware women performed PFMT irregularly during pregnancy.
Conclusion
Half of the pregnant women in this study were aware of PFMT. The majority of women felt that PFMT had positive effects on their health, emotions, sex, and quality of life. Education concerning PFMT and motivation to maintain the adherence of practicing the exercises are required.
Author Contributions
All authors contributed to data analysis, drafting or revising the article, gave final approval of the version to be published, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Disclosure
The abstract of this paper was presented at the IUGA 2015 Conference name “KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE (KAP) SURVEY TOWARDS PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLE TRAINING (PFMT) AMONG THAI PREGNANT WOMEN” as a poster presentation with interim findings. The poster’s abstract was published in IUGA academy website as: Hyperlink https://academy.iuga.org/iuga/2015/40th/141950/teerayut.temtanakitpaisan.knowledge.attitude.and.practice.28kap29.survey.towards.html. The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.