To Örebro University

Objective: to investigate women's attitudes and satisfaction with a weight-gain intervention programme during pregnancy.

Design: exploratory, descriptive study. Data were collected via interviews.

Setting: University hospital.

Participants: 56 obese pregnant women who attended antenatal care at the University Hospital of Linkoping's obstetrical department and took part in an intervention programme aimed at reducing weight gain during pregnancy, between November 2003 and August 2004.

Findings: the interviews comprised several questions concerning attitudes and opinions of the programme. Most of the women expressed positive experiences with the treatment and would attend the programme if they became pregnant again. Most of the women stated that they had changed their eating and exercise habits during pregnancy, and almost all of them had continued with these new habits. Even though the weight gain goal of a maximum 6.9 kg was reached by less than half of the participants, most of the women were satisfied with their weight gain. A total of 71.4% of the women participated in aqua aerobics classes. They stated that they were most satisfied with this form of exercise, and that it also was a good social experience.

Key conclusions and implications for practice: a pregnant woman herself must be actively involved in setting her own goals to prevent excessive weight gain during pregnancy. Considerable effort and support must be placed on discussing strategies, pitfalls and risks. In order for the woman to maintain the change in attitude and habits, she must probably be given continuous feedback and reinforcement over the long term.