Knowledge, attitudes and practice of primary care physicians in eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia towards exercise during pregnancy

CONTEXT: Physical activity is well known to have enormous benefits for women in all phases of life, including pregnancy. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of primary care physicians towards exercise during pregnancy in the eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia: Qatif, Dammam, and Al-Khobar. METHODS AND MATERIAL: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between January and June 2019 among primary care physicians, based on a 32-item self-administered questionnaire distributed through e-mails and SMS messaging. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Descriptive statistics and Chi-square analysis were used to compare groups. RESULTS: The majority of participants (97.3%) believed that exercise during pregnancy is beneficial and showed fair knowledge; however, most of them (86.5%) were unaware of the guidelines and nearly half of them (55.2%) did not give advice on exercise to their patients. CONCLUSIONS: Primary care physicians demonstrate fair knowledge and positive attitude towards exercise in pregnancy; however, their practice and recommendations did not align with the guidelines. Thus, we need to bridge this gap by providing well-structured evidence based continuous educational programs and activities to all physicians providing maternal care.