Exercising during Pregnancy - Assignment Example

 Exercising During Pregnancy Introduction A large number of pregnant women in the UK and in the US have been classified as obese or overweight. Being overweight has serious implications increasing their risks of diseases and conditions such as pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, delivery complications among others. This paper is a critique of a proposal for supporting exercise during pregnancy. It discusses the strengths and limitations of the proposed aims, objectives and methodology. Critical Thinking The project aim of the proposal is to conduct investigations on how technology could be used to support and advocate for physical activity behaviors of women during pregnancy. Its objectives are to review the existing literature on women exercising during pregnancy, the use of technology with this regard and its potential to help women exercise during their pregnancy using primary data, as well as producing a proposal for a new technology, design or enhance an existing one to be able to support and encourage exercising during pregnancy (Brin, 2011, Pg. 143). Strengths and limitations of the proposal The views of different people about the impact of exercising during pregnancy have been changing over the years. Some of the past views have been negative whereby over exertion was said to harm the foetus. The proposal discusses this literature and identifying that exercising during pregnancy in women who have normal and healthy pregnancies. Exercise has now been proven to be beneficial rather than detrimental to both the women and their babies. The proposal helps to distinguish between the facts and myths thus assisting women to embrace exercising. With a review in technology, the proposal also helps to gain more information about the benefits of exercising during pregnancy. It helps women to positively change their behavior by understanding the consequences of their behavior (Rahl, 2012, Pg.89). Limitation With the methodology used, some of the information given, especially through the interview method may not be accurate. Among the interviewed women, some find the kind of advises given to them by different health providers, quite different, confusing and contradictory. Exercise and diet advice that participants receive has also been found to be inconsistent, lacking in detail and with little of it coming from health providers (Rahl, 2010, Pg. 71). Another setback of the proposal is the physical symptoms of pregnancy, such as fatigue, discomfort, and pain that make women reduce or stop taking the exercises. Work related and existing child care issues, lack of facilities as well as discouragement from family members is a limitation to women exercising during pregnancy. Most women stopped exercising as their pregnancy progresses (Rahl, 2010, Pg. 234). Ethical Considerations The proposed research project has used interviews, questionnaires and document review. In its proposal, ethical considerations of honesty, objectivity, competence, integrity, confidentiality and carefulness have highly been observed. Objectivity has been observed through disclosing that affect the research. Honesty in reporting data collected such as the participants’ confession of receiving contradictory information from health providers has also been applied. The proposed research project has shared results, resources and ideas showing a high degree of openness. Legality has been observed through questionnaires where they were issued to patients upon permission granted by the health institutions they were in (Cowlin, 2002, Pg. 142). The proposed project protects the human subject in this case, exercising during pregnancy by taking precautions with the vulnerable populations, respecting privacy, human dignity and autonomy. The proposal has as well observed confidentiality where women will be interviewed at their places of choice, and their privacy maintained at all times mostly in public arenas. While considering mentoring, competence, the participants are encouraged to talk pursuing alternatives in order to gain a rich account of their experiences. Care is also taken in recruiting participants so as to recruit only those who are capable of giving meaningful data concerning the study. Documents are critically reviewed to provide competent results. In this case, only credible documents have been reviewed (Kettles et al, Pg. 2006). Interview Method The proposed interview method for this research is a semi-structured one. The questions are to be derived from previous literature review. We identify and discuss some possible questions to be asked in the interview What are the benefits of exercising during pregnancy? On asking this question, it gets easier to tell the perception of the woman on exercising during pregnancy. A woman who does it will have ready answers such as to monitor weight and to reduce fatigue while those who do not will be reluctant to answer. To whose benefits are the exercises during pregnancy? This question will help to connect the participant to the importance of exercising in case she does not exercise. Do you exercise? The question will require a short answer of yes or no that will help in the statistics of those who participate. How do you exercise? This enables to tell whether the participant is familiar with the right forms of exercise that should be undertaken during pregnancy. Who regulates your exercise? Health providers and care takers should play a major role in helping and advising pregnant women on the right measures of exercising. This will help to measure their level of responsibilities regarding this duty. How do you monitor your weight? For participants who do not exercise, this would be an important question to tell whether they have opted for other risky methods such as dieting and slimming pills. Why do you or do not exercise? Following previous literature reviews indicating that women fail to exercisefearing that it would negatively affect them and the babies they carry, this question will drive them to the reality of the other positive effects of exercising. Why did you stop exercising? Some may claim to have started exercising, then stopped along the way. This question will answer the answer the questions of the pregnancy stage that most women give up exercising as well as the reasons. On collection of these data, the analysis of the percentage of pregnant women who do exercise will be achieved. It will also help to propose on the right ways to advise pregnant women based on technology. The reasons as to why most women do not exercise will link the proposed research to the reasons as to why they should exercise and the benefits they would get from the exercises. The analysis will thus make it easier for the application of technology on activities such as weight management and monitoring (Groves et al, 2009, Pg. 65). Questionnaire method What is your age? This question would be used since age helps to identify the age group that exercises, in most cases, women stop exercising as their age advances. On data analysis, different age brackets will be categorized and the most active bracket with more participants will be identified (Kothari, 2005, Pg. 13). How important is exercise to you? No one would do what they think is of no importance. This question would have answers such as very important, moderately important or not important at all. This is to determine why women would ignore exercising during pregnancy while it would help to know their perception of it. How is your physical health? Women who do not exercise are likely to have poor physical health. This question will put some sense in them on the physical benefits that exercising during pregnancy would give them. What forms of exercise do you use? This helps to distinguish between the healthy and the risky methods of exercising during pregnancy. On the analysis, women familiar with the right forms of exercise will be categorized. How often do you exercise? The answers to this question will give the statistics of women who follow the activity as a daily routine showing how serious they are with it. What is your weight? In this case, it will be easy to tell women who are overweight or underweight. It will also tell whether they are comfortable with it. How do you monitor your weight? Women who are taking risky measures to monitor their weight will be easily identified to ease the application of measures to take in advocating for exercising during pregnancy. In which trimester is your pregnancy? This question is important in determining the stage of pregnancy at which women give up exercising. Who regulates your exercise? This helps to determine the role of external factors such as family members in encouraging women to exercise. What kind of facilities do you use? Some women may fail to exercise as a result of limited facilities. This will help to put in place measures that will enable all pregnant women access these facilities. The analysis of this data will play a major role in identifying the role that technology would play to ensure a larger number of if not all pregnant women exercise during their pregnancy (Harell et al, 2009). Document Review The document about weight management before, during and after pregnancy advices women on the way forward towards maintaining a standard weight all through pregnancy. However, it does not include guidance on underweight women, management of obese women during pregnancy, those diagnosed with diseases such as diabetes or those who are undergoing treatment. It also has no safety advice on diet and food. The guidance, mostly addresses caretakers and health care providers. Weight Management To attain and maintain a healthy weight all through, women are advised to; base most of their meals on starchy food, and take whole grain meals where possible. Use foods that are fibre-rich, take different varieties of fruits daily, reduce their calories intake by taking low diet foods, reduce intake of meals with high added sugars, take breakfast, watch the portions they take, minimize their sedentary activities and involve in some sorts of physical activities such as walking or cycling (Brin, 2011). Women who are overweight would have to carry out this program to lose weight effectively; address why it is difficult for them to lose weight, get tailored to their individual choices and needs, base themselves on healthy, balanced diets, do regular physical activity, not to have exaggerated expectations and identify and address their barriers to significant changes. However, these programs should not be conducted during pregnancy to avoid harming the unborn. To achieve this, all involved parties should take their part in encouraging and supporting exercise during pregnancy for all women. Participants previously interviewed stated to have been discouraged by family members while others discredited the advice they get from their health providers and the health professionals at large. Effective action should therefore be taken by all professional bodies, health professionals, support staff and healthcare assistants to set competent professional development in care provision (Clapp and Cram, 2012, Pg. 204). Diary Apart from interviews, questionnaires and document review the diary could also be used as a research method. Diaries have been used by many researchers and can be used as a future reference. Historians, literary scholars and biographers have for a long time considered diary documents to be of significance. Self-completion diaries carry a number of advantages as compared to other methods of data collection. One of the strengths of using diaries is providing a reliable alternative to the traditional method of interviewing. Diaries are comprehensive in events that get difficult to recall accurately or those that have already been forgotten. Diaries also help to overcome problems that are associated with the collection of sensitive information through a personal interview (Alaszewski, 2006, Pg. 76). Diaries are used to supplement interview data, providing a rich source of information on the behavior of respondents and their day to day experiences. In occasions where the period of diary keeping is followed by an interview, asking detailed questions that concern the diary entries is is considered to be among the most reliable methods of obtaining information. Diaries provide more accurate and comprehensive information as compared to other methods of data collection. However, the use of diaries also has some limitations in the field of data collection (Alaszewski,2006, Pg. 76). Diaries would help to keep records of changes in women regarding exercising during pregnancy. Limitations of using Diaries The diary method as compared to the personal interview and questionnaire methods is more expensive. Where diaries are unstructured, coding and intensive editing may push up its costs. Another problem of software development for the manipulating and processing of diary data is bulk and complexity of the data collected. However, the costs have to be balanced against this superiority of the diary method in obtaining accurate data, especially where the recall method happens to produce poor results. Qualitative software packages can also be used to code them as interview transcripts do (Alaszewski, 2006, Pg. 83). Conclusion Exercising during pregnancy if undertaken in the right forms is of great benefit to women and unborn children. Research should come up with ideas on how technology could be used as a means to encourage and support women on exercising during pregnancy. Technology is highly effective and would help women, health providers and the society in the right ways of exercising and its benefits. References Alaszewski, A. (2006). Using diaries for social research. London [u.a.], SAGE. Brin, L. (2011). How to exercise when you're expecting for the 9 months of pregnancy and the 5 months it takes to get your best body back. New York, Penguin Group. http://www.contentreserve.com/TitleInfo.asp?ID={66B1C870-573C-4ABA-B6CB-B01614BE00ED}&Format=50. Clapp, J. F., & Cram, C. (2012). Exercising through your pregnancy. Omaha, Neb, Addicus Books. Cowlin, A. F. (2002). Women's fitness program development. Champaign, Ill, Human Kinetics. Ezmerli, N. M. (2000). Exercise in pregnancy. Primary care update for Ob/Gyns, 7(6), 260-265. Groves, R. M., Fowler, F. J., Couper, M., Lepkowski, J. M., Singer, E., & Tourangeau, R. (2009). Survey methodology. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. Harrell, M. C., & Bradley, M. (2009). Data collection methods: semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Santa Monica, CA, RAND. Kettles, M., Cole, C. L., & Wright, B. S. (2006). Women's health and fitness guide. Champaign, Ill, Human Kinetics. Kothari, C. R. (2005). Research methodology: methods & techniques. New Delhi, New Age International (P) Ltd. Rahl, R. L. (2010). Physical activity and health guidelines recommendations for various ages, fitness levels, and conditions from 57 authoritative sources. Champaign, IL, Human Kinetics. Read More