Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and Barriers of Exercise Among Postpartum Women in a Low-Resource Setting

Introduction

Physical inactivity predisposes mothers to untoward physical and mental health outcomes. Acquiring requisite knowledge pertaining to postpartum exercise promotes a good attitude and facilitates participation in exercises in spite of the presence of barriers. This study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude, practice and barriers to postpartum exercises among women within 6 weeks to 1 year after childbirth.

Methods

This is a quantitative, cross-sectional study involving 146 postpartum women at a tertiary hospital in Accra, Ghana. Respondents completed an adapted survey tool–Knowledge, attitude and practice of postpartum exercise. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 27 was used to perform all analyses using descriptive and inferential statistics with significance at a p-value of 0.05.

Results

Sixty-five percent reported a low general knowledge of postpartum exercise, 63% had an average knowledge of the benefits of exercise whilst 94% had a high knowledge of contraindications of exercise. Eighty-four percent of the respondents revealed a good attitude, although only 36% participated in postpartum exercises. Fifty-two percent of the postpartum women indicated that lack of time was a barrier for them, whilst 42% reported that lack of information was a barrier. Significant associations were discovered between general knowledge of postpartum exercise and practice (𝛘2 = 14.157, p-value = 0.001) as well as attitude and barriers (𝛘2 = 9.114, p-value = 0.003).

Conclusion

This study highlights a low knowledge and practice of exercise among postpartum women at a single tertiary centre in Ghana, although they exhibit a good attitude towards exercise amidst major barriers. Findings suggest that health professionals in maternal healthcare should provide information regarding postpartum exercises as an essential aspect of postpartum care plans in low-resource settings to promote health outcomes.