Page 28 - Petelin, Ana, Nejc Šarabon, Boštjan Žvanut, eds. 2017. Zdravje delovno aktivne populacije ▪︎ Health of the Working-Age Population. Proceedings. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press
P. 28
avje delovno aktivne populacije | health of the working-age population 26 tum period. Through interviews and their answers gained, we found out that
the interviewees did swimming, pilates, cycling on an exercise bike, skiing and
hiking during pregnancy. Among the participants walking was dominating,
because beside the already mentioned other types of physical activity, walking
was chosen by all women. Most of them devoted between 30 and 60 minutes,
some also more time, to physical activity depending on the day, their well-be-
ing and available time. On average, they were physically active five times a
week. We believe that this is a good result according to the issued recommen-
dations by American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2002). The
same can be confirmed by comparing this qualitative research with a quantita-
tive study carried out by Rijavec (2016).
In the research, we found that all the interviewees were performing phys-
ical activity independently. It seems to us from a medical point of view, this in-
formation is worrying because we do not know whether the participants were
familiar with it. What they need to be careful about doing and when they need
to stop their physical activity. In any case, this could be the research question
for a new research. Gogala (2013) found, that the majority of respondents, 39
(68.4%), during their pregnancy used non-organized forms of physical activ-
ity, with their family and friends or independently. We also received interest-
ing answers on the question where the women got information about the form
or type of exercise to perform during the pregnancy. We were surprised by the
statements of the participants that they found the information themselves us-
ing various easily accessible sources. At least ten participants confirmed that
they had access to information via the Internet. We have a question here: »Is
the Internet really a right, reliable source of information?« It is often believed
that the answer is affirmative, but it is important to know on which website
we access the information, otherwise, we could overlook important warnings.
At this point, we have identified a gap, so we believe that greater awareness is
needed, especially at the primary level of health care. Only three interviewees
said in their statements that the information was provided by healthcare pro-
fessionals. In a survey carried out by Gragelj (2014), 27 (54%) of surveyed preg-
nant women received the most information about exercise during pregnancy
on the Internet and only 6 pregnant women (12%) from health workers at the
parent‘s school..
Due to an important role of the pelvic floor muscles in the life of every
woman, in this research, we tried to determine whether the participants were
performing pelvic floor muscle training during pregnancy and whether they
were aware of the importance of these muscles. The results show that all the
women know the reasons for strengthening the pelvic floor muscles and are
aware of how it can affect pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal period. It was
very encouraging to find that seven of them were doing pelvic floor muscle ex-
ercises already during the pregnancy. Rijavec (2016) reported that in her study,
35 (76,1%) of the 46 women surveyed performed exercises for strengthening the
pelvic floor muscles during pregnancy.
the interviewees did swimming, pilates, cycling on an exercise bike, skiing and
hiking during pregnancy. Among the participants walking was dominating,
because beside the already mentioned other types of physical activity, walking
was chosen by all women. Most of them devoted between 30 and 60 minutes,
some also more time, to physical activity depending on the day, their well-be-
ing and available time. On average, they were physically active five times a
week. We believe that this is a good result according to the issued recommen-
dations by American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2002). The
same can be confirmed by comparing this qualitative research with a quantita-
tive study carried out by Rijavec (2016).
In the research, we found that all the interviewees were performing phys-
ical activity independently. It seems to us from a medical point of view, this in-
formation is worrying because we do not know whether the participants were
familiar with it. What they need to be careful about doing and when they need
to stop their physical activity. In any case, this could be the research question
for a new research. Gogala (2013) found, that the majority of respondents, 39
(68.4%), during their pregnancy used non-organized forms of physical activ-
ity, with their family and friends or independently. We also received interest-
ing answers on the question where the women got information about the form
or type of exercise to perform during the pregnancy. We were surprised by the
statements of the participants that they found the information themselves us-
ing various easily accessible sources. At least ten participants confirmed that
they had access to information via the Internet. We have a question here: »Is
the Internet really a right, reliable source of information?« It is often believed
that the answer is affirmative, but it is important to know on which website
we access the information, otherwise, we could overlook important warnings.
At this point, we have identified a gap, so we believe that greater awareness is
needed, especially at the primary level of health care. Only three interviewees
said in their statements that the information was provided by healthcare pro-
fessionals. In a survey carried out by Gragelj (2014), 27 (54%) of surveyed preg-
nant women received the most information about exercise during pregnancy
on the Internet and only 6 pregnant women (12%) from health workers at the
parent‘s school..
Due to an important role of the pelvic floor muscles in the life of every
woman, in this research, we tried to determine whether the participants were
performing pelvic floor muscle training during pregnancy and whether they
were aware of the importance of these muscles. The results show that all the
women know the reasons for strengthening the pelvic floor muscles and are
aware of how it can affect pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal period. It was
very encouraging to find that seven of them were doing pelvic floor muscle ex-
ercises already during the pregnancy. Rijavec (2016) reported that in her study,
35 (76,1%) of the 46 women surveyed performed exercises for strengthening the
pelvic floor muscles during pregnancy.
