Insight into the exercise advice pregnant women receive from their medical practitioners

Melanie J. Hayman*, Peter Reaburn, Stephanie J. Alley, Camille E. Short

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Pregnancy is recognised as a time of increased inactivity and sedentary behaviour leading to poorer maternal outcomes. Despite the well‐established health benefits of exercise during pregnancy, <35% of Australian pregnant women are considered sufficiently active in accordance with evidence‐based exercise during pregnancy guidelines,1 which recommend women participate in at least 150 minutes of moderate‐vigorous exercise, accumulated across most, if not all days of the week, consisting of aerobic and resistance‐based activity.2 [Extract] Medical practitioners (MPs) are powerful motivators to behaviour change among pregnant women, particularly for women in rural, regional and remote communities of Australia who often have limited access to specialist health care services.3 Women in these communities rely more heavily on their MPs to provide antenatal care services including exercise advice and counselling. Previous research suggests that MPs’ knowledge of exercise during pregnancy is limited and that they might not be providing exercise advice to pregnant women.4, 5 However, little is known about the specific advice that Australian MPs are providing pregnant women, or whether this advice is in accordance with current exercise during pregnancy guidelines. Thus, the aim of the present study was to explore the exercise advice pregnant women received from a sample of regionally based Australian MPs.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)264-265
Number of pages2
JournalAustralian Journal of Rural Health
Volume27
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2019

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