The Relationship between Cognitive Social Theory and Physical Activity in Pregnant Women

Abstract

Background Although following a suitable sports program with mild intensity promoted the health of mother's who had healthy pregnancy and caused no harm to the growing fetus; pregnant women usually choose to live a sedentary life. This study was conducted to determine the psychological factors related to physical activity in pregnant women. Materials and Methods This descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional study was conducted on 201 pregnant women who referred to Isfahan health center, Iran. Data gathering tools included a questionnaire on physical activity during pregnancy and a questionnaire to evaluate variables related to social cognitive theory. The validity of socio-cognitive questionnaires was approved by expert professors and their reliability was approved using internal consistency and Cronbach's alpha (above 0.6). Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 16.0) through descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient test and linear regression. Results: The greatest amount of physical activity was related to activities in a moderate level. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between three variables of socio-cognitive theory and several levels of physical activity. There was also a significant relationship between variable of observational learning and physical activity in a moderate level and total activity (P<0.05) and a significant relationship between variable of social norms with all three levels of physical activity and total activity. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between outcome expectations and inactivity (P<0.05) Conclusion: Among the variables related to social cognitive theory, social norms as one of the environmental factors in interaction of the individual, the behavior and environment could be used to analyze the physical activity during pregnancy. Suitable interference focusing on social norms to promote physical activity in pregnant women should be considered.