Women’s views and experiences of a perinatal exercise counselling intervention: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT

Current guidelines support that physical activity during the perinatal period is beneficial for the mother and the foetus. However, women during their pregnancy and postpartum limit or discontinue their exercise routine. The aim of this study was to illustrate perinatal women’s views and experiences derived from an Exercise Counselling (EC) intervention and evaluate the intervention’s acceptability. A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was conducted with eight adult women of reproductive age recruited from obstetric care practices. Participants had just completed an EC intervention regarding the effectiveness of exercise on perinatal depressive symptoms, implemented in the context of a Randomised Control Trial. The analysis resulted in three overarching themes: main obstacles to engagement with the EC intervention, factors that enabled participation in the EC intervention and participants’ suggestions to improve the EC intervention. One of the main obstacles to engagement with the EC intervention was socio-cultural factors, such as the post-birth forty-day home stay, which negatively impacted women’s participation in the intervention. By contrast, obstetricians’ support and the positive effect of exercise on mental well-being were enabling factors. Finally, among recommendations to improve the EC intervention, women cited the partner’s involvement and engagement in the EC earlier in pregnancy. In conclusion, designing and implementing culturally sensitive interventions targeting expectant parents as a dyad is fundamental for researchers and obstetricians. Future research should focus on identifying effective strategies to educate obstetricians about perinatal exercise and to develop protocols that could support the implementation of perinatal exercise counselling sessions in public health policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Perinatal physical activity
• intervention acceptability
• qualitative research
• physical activity engagement
• exercise

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the participants for investing the time to participate in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by a PhD studentship awarded to NAT, co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) through the Operational Programme "Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning" in the context of the project "Strengthening Human Resources Research Potential via Doctorate Research" (MIS-5000432), implemented by the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY).