gms | German Medical Science

Background: Prenatal and postpartum period is a sensitive phase for the short-, medium- and long-term health of mother and child. Systematic reviews provide evidence that physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle has positive effects both on physiological pregnancy and on the prevention of pregnancy-associated diseases. For the postpartum period, the overall data and research are insufficient. A guideline on physical activity during and after pregnancy is not available in the German-speaking region so far.

Aim/research question: The aim is to assess midwives’ current state of knowledge, recommendations and attitudes towards physical activity during and after pregnancy. Among other things, the way midwives provide information on physical activity and the needs of pregnant women and mothers will be investigated. Furthermore, socio-demographic background and academic training data will be used to identify potential differences between the participating midwives. The project aims to identify ideas of developing professional development programmes as well as tools and guidelines that support midwives in providing prenatal and postpartum consultation services, in future.

Methods: For data collection, we provided an online-based questionnaire (38 items) in Unipark from 09/05 to 25/08/2023. The questionnaire is based on the “Clinician Prenatal and Postpartum Exercise Questionnaire” developed at the University of Alberta, which has been translated and adapted to fit the German requirements. Consent for use has been obtained. Participants (N=360) were recruited nationwide by reaching out to midwives through social media and email to all midwifery relevant organizations. The analysis is carried out quantitatively using descriptive statistics and regression models.

Results: Preliminary results indicate that only about one in eight midwives gives entirely correct recommendations on frequency, duration, and intensity of physical activities during pregnancy. Furthermore, the information varies considerably as to whether physical activity is recommended in the postpartum period: While about 55% of the midwives assess this individually for each pregnant woman, more than 25% recommend physical activity and about 20% reject it.

Relevancy: The study provides relevant data on midwives’ advice regarding physical activity during and after pregnancy, which is currently not available for Germany. Although there is increasing evidence for positive effects of physical activity around the birth period, this has so far not found its way into current recommendations and is not reflected in the responding midwives’ knowledge.

Recommendations/conclusion: The results can provide ideas for midwifery-specific professional development programmes as well as preliminary information for the development of appropriate tools and guidelines, which can be evaluated in future projects.

Ethics and conflicts of interest: This abstract was written in the context of a bachelor’s thesis. In March 2023, the study was submitted to the local ethics committee of psychologists at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. The positive ethics vote followed in April 2023. The research was financed by own resources. There are no conflicts of interest.