Knowledge, attitude and practice of antenatal exercise among pregnant women in Calabar Metropolis, Cross River State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate knowledge, attitude and practice of antenatal exercise among pregnant women in Calabar Metropolis of Cross River State. To achieve this purpose, three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was made up of one thousand two hundred and seventy-four (1274) registered pregnant women in the study area. Simple random sampling technique was used to select ten hospitals while systematic random sampling technique was utilized to select the two hundred and twenty-two (222) respondents used for the study. A twenty-five item four point modified Likert questionnaire was the instrument employed for data collection and was validated using experts’ opinions and subjected  to a reliability test for internal consistency. The coefficient obtained was 0.711, which showed high reliability of the research instrument. To test the hypotheses formulated for the study, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Statistical  tool was employed for data analysis. The result obtained from the analysis revealed that there was a significant relationship between knowledge of antenatal exercise, attitude towards antenatal exercise, practice of antenatal exercise and antennal exercise among pregnant women in the study area. Based on these findings it was recommended among others that educational programmes to enhance pregnant women's knowledge about the benefits of antenatal exercise, emphasizing its positive impact on maternal health and foetal development should be expanded and encouraged.

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