Effectiveness of Prenatal Education Regarding Practice on Antenatal Exercises and Minor Ailments among Pregnant Mothers

Introduction: Antenatal excersises are essential aspect of antenatal care in most settings and these have a powerful and positive contribution to pregnancy when applied correctly. Aim: To find out the effectiveness of prenatal education regarding practice of antenatal exercises and prelevance of minor ailments during the third trimester among pregnant mothers. Materials and Methods: A Quasi experimental pre-test-post-test control group study was conducted among 60 antenatal women (30 in control and 30 in experimental) between 28-30 weeks of gestation attending obstetrics and gynaecology OPD, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and research centre, Kochi, Kerela, India. The antenatal women were selected by using nonprobability convenience sampling technique and the data was collected using a self reported checklist to assess the practice of exercise and a self administered rating scale to assess the level of minor ailments experienced by antenatal mothers. On day-1, pre-test measure of minor ailments were done. Then prenatal education regarding antenatal exercises was given to the mothers in experimental group. During follow up visit, on day-14, re-teaching was given. The practice of antenatal exercise was assessed using a self reported check list and the minor ailments of antenatal mothers was assessed using rating scale on day-28. Statistical Analysis was done by using mean, frequency, percentage and paired t-test. Results: Out of 60 antenatal mothers, majority of the mothers were within the age group of 18-25 years. The mean post-test score of practice in control group was (24.63+4.5) and the mean post-test score in experimental group was (66.3+8.4) and it is significant at the level of p-value <0.001. The mean post-test score of minor ailments in control group was (33.1 +/- 1.47) and in experimental group (25.27 +/- 2.12). Noticeably the comparison between mean post-test score of minor ailments shows statistically significant difference at the level of p< 0.001. Conclusion: Performing exercise during pregnancy helps the mother to be healthy and free from minor ailments.