Shelley, the author of the research review below, recently completed her 40 hour practicum at Bodies for Birth and has now officially graduated from Bastyr with a degree in Nutrition and Exercise Science! Shelley set out to learn more about what the current research says about exercise for the postpartum population and has summarized her findings.
Read her research review here and more about Shelley and her experience as a student at Bodies for Birth below:
Research Reviewed: Postpartum Women’s Perspectives of Engaging with a Dietitian and Exercise Physiologist via Video Consultations for Weight Management: A Qualitative Evaluation(1)
To assess how a video consultation service would benefit postpartum women, thirty new mothers participated in an eight-week qualitative design study. The women that took part in the study were between three and twelve months postpartum with a BMI at or below 25 kg/m2.
In this qualitative design, the thirty women received a total of five consultations with a Dietician and an Exercise Physiologist. Throughout these eight weeks, participants received customized nutrition and exercise plans.
No control group was included.
After completing the eight-week program, telephone interviews were conducted to determine weight status and thoughts about the program. Most of the women did lose weight prior to the program and there was an outstanding number of positive feedback. Some reported that they felt better able to handle with weight gain in the future. Others commented about the helpfulness of the customized programs given to them by the dietician and exercise physiologist.
The findings of this study indicate that video consultation services were beneficial for new moms. With new routines and scheduling conflicts, an online program is something that can be accomplished at a time that suits the mother best.
One issue mentioned in the article was that of diversity. The women participating in the program had similar education and marital backgrounds. This study would have given additional interesting results had it included a more diverse population.
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Research Reviewed: Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude of Women Towards Postpartum Exercise (2)
To determine the knowledge and attitude of postpartum women towards exercise, 160 Saudi women participated in a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design study. The ages of the 160 women that participated in this study were between 15- and 41-years-old. Those participating did not suffer from any postpartum complications.
Over the course of the single interview, information was gathered about educational and employment status. Other information that was asked about was where information about postpartum exercises was found and the importance of postpartum exercise.
As this was a non-experimental quantitative design study, no control group was included.
After completing the interviews, researchers found that there was a relationship between the age and income of the participants and their knowledge of postpartum exercise. Attitude of postpartum exercise had no relationship between the demographic of the participants.
This study provided information regarding the knowledge and attitude of postpartum women towards exercise. Half of the participants had a positive attitude about exercising after pregnancy.
This study would have been more interesting had it included an information session about why exercise is important after delivering and a survey to find out if attitudes had changed prior to the workshop.
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About The Author:
My name is Shelley and I recently graduated from Bastyr’s nutrition and exercise science program. During oursenior year,we were encouraged to go out and find a site we were passionate about to complete a 40-hour practicum. When I found Bodies for Birth, I was so excited to meet with Maura and learn all about exercise during pregnancy and postpartum. As someone who has worked with children for eleven years, I have found such a passion for working with children and families! I am so fortunate to have met Maura and some of you on this journey!
While completing this practicum, Maura and I discussed a research project that I could work on to learn about the most recent research for pregnancy/postpartum. Below are some of the research articles that interested me. Thank you to everyone for being so kind during this wonderful opportunity Maura gave me! I hope the rest of your summer is filled with family time and love!
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(1) Vincze L, Rollo M, Hutchesson M, Callister R, Thompson D, Collins C. Postpartum Women’s Perspectives of Engaging with a Dietitian and Exercise Physiologist via Video Consultations for Weight Management: A Qualitative Evaluation. Healthcare. 2018;6(1):8.
(2) Alharqi H, Albattawi Jilan. Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude of Women Towards Postpartum Exercise. Journal of Nursing and Health Science. 2018;7(1):16-20.