Attività fisica nel tempo libero nelle donne in gravidanza, un confronto tra le donne italiane e le donne slovacche

OBJECTIVES: To enhance the topic of the benefits of physical activity during pregnancy; to evaluate the amount of physical activity and the health-related quality of life during pregnancy between pregnant Italian and Slovak women; to learn how active and educated Italian and Slovak women are about the positive effects of physical activity during pregnancy through quantitative research. MATERIALS: The evaluation was held by SF12v2 (SF-12v2 Health Survey 3rd ed., Maruish, M. E., 2012), the PPAQ (Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire, Chasan-Taber et al., 2004) and the additional questions. RESULTS: A total of 118 women have participated in the research, divided in Slovak (n= 88) and Italian (n=30) groups. The research has found slight differences the Italian and the Slovak group. Slovak women feel more active before and during pregnancy. In contrast Italian women seem more supported to practice physical activity during pregnancy by the partner/family. Italian women also have slightly better health perception comparing to Slovak women. Italian women results show they are better informed about the benefits of physical activity during pregnancy when compared to the Slovak sample. Overall, Italian women seem to reach higher levels of moderate and vigorous intensity activity and sport and exercise practiced during the pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: The research shows the correlation between the amount of the information about positive effects of practicing physical activity during pregnancy and the actual amount of physical activity practiced. According to these acknowledgement the future studies should focus on educating doctors and healthcare professionals about the topic and to deepen the connections of the level of education about the topic, the level of physical activity practiced during pregnancy and the level of well being of pregnant women as to be able to create programs of primary prevention aimed at the health of future mothers.