Educational campaign to support pregnant women and new mothers in enjoying and benefiting from an active lifestyle. Insight report.

Recent research has shown that pregnant women who were physically active at the time of their booking appointment with a midwife (8-12 weeks) were most likely to initiate further discussion about maintaining their physical activity, however, it has also been found that there is a lack of consistent and clear information pertaining to physical activity messages with many health professionals either providing no such information or giving inappropriate guidance to women of childbearing age.

A lack of training, knowledge, and resources regarding physical activity have resulted in healthcare professionals relying on common sense and their own experience to advise and guide pregnant women and new mothers. In turn, this often results in pregnant women and new mothers turning to informal sources, such as the internet, for guidance.

In response, this project aims to develop a toolkit to support the delivery of consistent and clear messages regarding physical activity by healthcare professionals (in line with current guidance), as well as helping to stimulate engagement with physical activity in our target audiences. Through increasing the confidence, skills, and knowledge of healthcare professionals, it is expected that pregnant women and new mothers will be empowered to make informed physical activity choices throughout pregnancy and beyond.

This report brings together the insights from the scoping activities carried out to facilitate the development of an educational campaign to support pregnant women and new mothers in enjoying and benefiting from an active lifestyle. The report provides an overview of the key themes that became apparent and conclude with points for discussion and next steps in the project delivery.