What Informs Self-efficacy To Be Active During Pregnancy?

Self-efficacy facilitates adherence to prenatal exercise which elicits health benefits for the pregnant person and developing fetus. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to characterize self-efficacy for exercise during pregnancy and identify theoretically derived antecedents that contribute to high self-efficacy profiles. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted using RedCap. Eligible participants were currently pregnant, ≥18 years old, did not have contraindications to exercise, and could communicate in English. Participants completed the Pregnancy Exercise Self Efficacy Scale, and were grouped as high, moderate or low self-efficacy. They indicated the degree to which factors that influence self-efficacy (i.e., mastery experience, verbal persuasion, physiological feedback, social persuasion) affected their exercise participation. Open-ended responses described motivators and barriers for exercise. One-Way ANOVA and Chi-Square analyses compared self-efficacy factors. A conventional content analysis was performed on open-ended responses and compared by Chi-Square analyses. RESULTS: Seventy-two participants were included and grouped according to high (n = 18), moderate (n = 50) and low (n = 4) self-efficacy. Mastery experiences and physiological affect were ranked as most influential by the high-self efficacy group compared to both moderate (p = 0.001) and low (p < 0.001) self-efficacy groups. The main reasons for being active were for improving the health of the baby and the pregnant person. The main barriers to being active were fatigue and lack of time. There were no differences between groups for frequency of reporting motivators or barriers. CONCLUSIONS: Mastery experiences (e.g., previous activity levels) and physiological affect (e.g., improved mood post-exercise) promote high self-efficacy for prenatal exercise. Future interventions may use these findings to facilitate prenatal exercise adherence by leveraging factors that are likely to enhance self-efficacy.