Water Exercise and Quality of Life in Pregnancy: A Randomised Clinical Trial

Raquel Rodríguez-Blanque, María José Aguilar-Cordero, Ana Eugenia Marín-Jiménez, María José Menor-Rodríguez, Maria Montiel-Troya and Juan Carlos Sánchez-García
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Raquel Rodríguez-Blanque: Research Group CTS1068, Andalusia Research Plan, Junta de Andalucía, San Cecilio Clinical Hospital, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
María José Aguilar-Cordero: Research Group CTS 367, Andalusia Research Plan, Junta de Andalucía, School of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Granada, San Cecilio Clinical Hospital, 18071 Granada, Spain
Ana Eugenia Marín-Jiménez: Research Group CTS1068, Andalusia Research Plan, Junta de Andalucía, Quantitative Methods for the Economics and Enterprise, Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
María José Menor-Rodríguez: Research Group CTS367, Andalusia Research Plan, Junta de Andalucía, Área Sanitaria de Ourense, 32616 Ourense, Spain
Maria Montiel-Troya: Research Group CTS1068, Andalusia Research Plan, Junta de Andalucía, School of Nursing Ceuta Campus, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, 51001 Ceuta, Spain
Juan Carlos Sánchez-García: Research Group CTS1068, Andalusia Research Plan, Junta de Andalucía, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-12

Abstract: Background : Physical exercise helps to maintain a healthy lifestyle and its practice is recommended for women during pregnancy as a means of limiting the negative effects on the body that may take place and to optimise well-being, mood and sleep patterns, as well as encouraging daily physical activity, enhancing the ability to work and preventing pregnancy-related complications. Aim : To analyse the quality of life in pregnancy for women who complete a programme of moderate physical activity in water, following a designed method that the woman can perform physical exercise safely during pregnancy called the SWEP (study of water exercise during pregnancy) method. Materials and methods : A randomised clinical trial was performed. One hundred and twenty-nine pregnant women were randomly assigned either to an exercise class following the SWEP method (EG, n = 65) or to a control group (CG, n = 64). The trial began in week 20 of pregnancy (May 2016) and ended in week 37 (October 2016). Heath-related quality of life (HRQoL) was evaluated with the SF36v2 health questionnaire at weeks 12 and 35 of pregnancy. Results : The HRQoL score decreased significantly between weeks 12 and 35 of gestation, except for the mental health component, which in the CG fell by −3.28 points and in the EG increased slightly ( p > 0.05). Among the CG, the score for the mental health component at week 35 was ≤42, indicating a positive screening risk of depression (39.20 ± 4.16). Conclusions : Physical activity programmes in water, such as SWEP, enhance the HRQoL of pregnant women.

Keywords: Pregnant woman; exercise; physical activity; quality of life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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