Knowledge Attitude And Awareness Towards Prenatal And Postpartum Physiotherapy Among Obstetricians And Gynaecologists In Peshawar

Abstract

Background: It is crucial to consider physiotherapy’s involvement in obstetrics and gynecology, which covers pregnancy, childbirth, and prenatal and postoperative care. To provide women with better health care, gynecologists must educate themselves about the benefits of physiotherapy in hospital settings.

Objective: This study is to observe the knowledge attitude and awareness towards prenatal and postpartum physiotherapy among obstetricians and gynecologists in Peshawar through a questionnaire-based survey.

Materials and Method:A sample size of 178 obstetricians and gynecologists who were working in the obstetrics and gynecology department of government and private hospitals in Peshawar were recruited. The data was obtained through a 28-item self-reported questionnaire in the English language adapted from a standardized questionnaire used in previous work. SPSS version 25 was used for data analysis. The Chi-square test was used to obtain the association for qualitative variables and the p-value < 0.05 was considered as significant.

Results: From the sample size (n=178) including obstetricians and gynecologists 61(53%) were from government hospitals and 54(47%) were from private hospitals. The remaining were not willing to participate. In the total sample, 115 (100%) were females.The mean age was found 31.96+9.59 years. And mean the experience was 7.92+9.5 years.

In obstetric conditions, 61.7% knew the role of physiotherapy in antenatal care, 67.8% in parturition, and 89.6% in postnatal.In gynecological conditions, 27% knew the role of physiotherapy in pelvic inflammatory disease, 76.5% in uterine prolapse, 48.9% in hysterectomy, and 40% in cervical incompetence. But out of them 10.4% most of the time and 57.4% occasionally refer their patients for physiotherapy in the antenatal period, 35.7% most of the time, and 36.5% occasionally refer their patients in the postnatal period. 61% advise physiotherapy during antenatal and 39% do not advise physiotherapy during antenatal. While 68% advise physiotherapy during the postpartum period and 32% do not advise physiotherapy during the postpartum period.

Conclusion: It was concluded that participants had good knowledge regarding obstetric physiotherapy. But there was less awareness of antenatal care and parturition than of postnatal care.