The Importance Assigned by Pregnant Women to the Quality Characteristics of Fitness Instructors. A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Introduction

The exercise professional’s role is to provide proper exercise prescription and selection, regular feedback, positive reinforcement, and behavioral strategies to enhance adherence. Thus, knowing the preferences of the consumers will enhance pedagogical skills.

Objective

To characterize pregnant women’s preferences regarding the fitness instructor’s quality characteristics in specific group exercise sessions for this population.

Methods

A qualitative study was conducted in 2021. The Fitness Instructor Quality Questionnaire was applied to 29 pregnant women engaged in prenatal group fitness classes, aged between 24 and 48 years. This questionnaire includes 25 items, grouped in two dimensions, scored with a Likert scale with 7 levels of importance (1 = not at all important; 7 = extremely important). Descriptive statistics were used to characterize pregnant women’s opinion (mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum).

Results

The global average of items was 6.41, showing that pregnant women give importance to the Quality of the fitness instructor. Relational Quality has the highest average (6.48), close to Pedagogical-Technical Quality dimension (6.34). The most important items for pregnant women were Ethics (6.76), Communication (6.72), and Availability, Motivation, and Punctuality (6.69). The less important items were Musical Domain (5.24), Image (5.69), and Physical Fitness (5.86).

Conclusion

Pregnant women give great importance to the Quality of the fitness instructor, although they value some indicators more than others, as identified in other studies in different populations. Considering the results of this study, it can be recommended that fitness instructors delivering prenatal exercise programs should address these factors related to Quality. It can be emphasized that the fitness instructor should have an intervention that shows willingness to listen to pregnant women, allows them time to perform the exercises, encourages them to practice, without overestimating aspects related to image or fitness level.

Keywords:

• exercise
• pregnant
• fitness
• instructor
• quality
• group classes
• Fitness Instructor Quality Questionnaire

Summary

The Fitness Instructor Quality Questionnaire was applied to 29 pregnant women engaged in prenatal group fitness classes. Pregnant women give great importance to the Quality of the fitness instructor. Therefore, it can be recommended that fitness instructors delivering prenatal exercise programs should address factors related to Quality, in particular, the willingness to listen to pregnant women, time and feedback while performing the exercises, and encouraging them to practice.

Acknowledgments

IPDJ – Instituto Português do Desporto e da Juventude (Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth) for the support in the production of the educational materials.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

The APC of this article was funded by CCISP (Portugal) – HES-SO (Switzerland) collaborative research: ACTIVE PREGNANCY - PROMOTING PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE DURING PREGNANCY AND POSTPARTUM. IPSANTARÉM - Polytechnic Institute of Santarém, Portugal: ESDRM – Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior; ESSS – Health School of Santarém; ESAS – Agrarian School of Santarém, and University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO) - School of Health Sciences, Lausanne (HESAV).