Psychological factors affecting the participation of pregnant women in physical activities in Uganda

Abstract

Winfred Nakazibwe, 2016. A qualitative research, exploring the psychological factors affecting the participation of pregnant women in physical activities in Uganda. University of Jyvaskyla. 97 pages.

Pregnancy is a time of social, psychological, behavioral and biological change. As such, it is not surprising that it has been identified as a contributing factor to the decline in exercise behavior among women. Psychological factors are among the major factors that affect pregnant women. This is brought about by the conditions related to conception, the experience of two people in one body, a change in physical appearance, doubts about maternal abilities, the capacity of the fetus to mature, and some experiences of emotional instability.

Despite the published guidelines that have stressed the importance of Physical Activity for pregnant women, little research has qualitatively explored the psychological factors affecting participation of women in PA during pregnancy. There is very little literature on the relationship between psychological issues and participation levels in physical activities. Moreover, most of the studies have only been done in developed countries rather than developing country like Uganda. This study therefore aimed at finding the change in physical activity during pregnancy and the psychological factors why pregnant women do not participate in physical activities, the effects of not participating in physical activities to the pregnant woman and the baby/fetus, and lastly, to identify the strategies that can be employed to help pregnant women actively take part in physical activities. This qualitative study used a phenomenology research approach together with a descriptive study design. A criterion and convenience types were used as sampling strategies together with a purposive random sampling technique which was employed to select the 10 respondents. Data was collected and analyzed using an interview guide and an Express scribe data analysis program respectively.

Results show that there is a noted relationship between psychological changes and participation in physical activities. Although knowledge of the importance of participation in physical activity among pregnant women was high (80%), this was not matched by actual participation in physical activity during pregnancy. There was a reduction in physical activities during pregnancy due to the psychological changes experienced. Although anxiety was identified as the leading psychological change experienced by respondents, fatigue was noted as the leading change that negatively affected the participation of pregnant women in physical activities. 100% of respondents had knowledge of the negative effects of being physically inactive during pregnancy and this ranged from general body weakness, failure to have a normal/ virginal delivery to prolonged labour. It was recommended that social support (spouse) should be emphasized as an intervention strategy to improve participation of pregnant women in physical activities. All stake holders should come on board and work together to help pregnant women improve their participation in physical activities.