Knowledge and awareness of health practice during pregnancy among females of Jeddah City in Saudi Arabia

Background: Pregnancy is a delightful experience for the expectant mother. It is a good time to develop healthy lifestyle habits including regular exercise, playing yoga and avoiding smoking and it is an integral part of life of a woman which changes her physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually for rest of her life. It is a condition in which a woman changes both from inside as well as outside. There is a direct link between healthy mothers and healthy infants. Subjects and Method: An observational cross-sectional study was done carried out on 445 females from the general population in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia, from January to June 2019. The tool used in this study consisted of a self-administrated questionnaire applied in Google form to cover three important perspectives (socio-demographic data, knowledge and awareness about wrong beliefs and risk behaviors during pregnancy). Results: The study sample included 445 participants. Most participants confirmed the importance of sports during pregnancy and that smoking had a harmful effect. 75.5% of participants confirmed the importance to consult a doctor before traveling; strikingly most of the participants had limited knowledge about correct practice during pregnancy (>60%). Conclusion: Overall knowledge about correct and poor practice during pregnancy was low to moderate. So, the study group recommended formation and implementation of health education programs to be given to expectant mothers especially on issues related to nutrition and activity. Evaluation of its impact on mothers and babies can be applied at a later stage.