Nas duas ultimas decadas, constata-se um incremento significativo da utilizacao de grupos focais como instrumento de coleta de dados em pesquisas no campo da Saude Coletiva no Brasil. Seja ocupando a funcao de tecnica principal, ou como estrategia complementar de tipo qualitativa, sua adocao atende invariavelmente ao objetivo de apreender percepcoes, opinioes e sentimentos frente a um tema determinado num ambiente de interacao. A regularidade quanto a finalidade no emprego do grupo focal contrasta com a variacao observada no tocante aos requisitos e procedimentos praticos referidos. Este artigo apresenta conceitos, finalidades e procedimentos relativos a tecnica de grupos focais e problematiza sua operacionalizacao pratica na pesquisa, particularmente no campo da saude. Com base neste objetivo, o trabalho integra uma revisao da literatura sobre grupo focal com uma reflexao derivada de experiencias de utilizacao da tecnica em estudos de avaliacao em saude, conduzidos ou orientados pela autora.

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Grupos focais: conceitos, procedimentos e reflexões baseadas em experiências com o uso da técnica em pesquisas de saúde

Objective 
To assess the physical activity levels of pregnant women and to examine the characteristics associated with the practice of exercise and the activities of daily living during pregnancy.


Methods 
For this cross-sectional study, 1,279 women were recruited within 72 hours postpartum. They were interviewed about their socio-demographic data and obstetric history and were administered self-report questionnaires about exercise and daily physical activities during pregnancy. Data on the current pregnancy, labor, delivery, and newborn outcomes were collected from participants’ medical records. To analyze factors related to the practice of exercise, we used the student t-test, X², and odds ratio (OR), with a corresponding 95% confident interval (CI), followed by a multiple logistic regression. The significance level was 5%.


Results 
Compared to the pre-pregnancy period, the prevalence of physical activity among participants was lower throughout pregnancy (20.1%) (p = 0.01). Half of the women interrupted practicing physical exercise due to pregnancy. The lowest prevalence of exercise was observed in the first (13.6%) and third trimesters (13.4%). Less than half of women received exercise guidance during prenatal care meetings (47.4%). Walking was the most commonly reported exercise, followed by water aerobics. Factors positively associated with exercise practice were higher educational level (OR= 1.82; CI 95% 1.28–2.60), primiparity (OR=1.49; CI 95% 1.07–2.07), exercising before pregnancy (OR= 6.45; CI 95% 4.64–8.96), and exercise guidance during prenatal care (OR=2.54; CI 95% 1.80–3.57). Mildly intense exercise and domestic activities were most frequently reported among pregnant women. There were no differences in maternal and perinatal outcomes between active and sedentary pregnant women.


Conclusion 
The findings indicate that promoting physical activity remains a priority in public health policy, and women of childbearing age, especially those planning a pregnancy, should be encouraged to adopt an exercise routine or maintain an active lifestyle during pregnancy in order to avoid sedentary- and obesity-associated risks.

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Physical Activity Patterns and Factors Related to Exercise during Pregnancy: A Cross Sectional Study.

Attitudes, barriers and enablers to physical activity in pregnant women: a systematic review

Perceived barriers to leisure-time physical activity during pregnancy: A literature review of quantitative and qualitative evidence

There is a direct link between healthy mothers and healthy infants. Exercise and appropriate nutrition are important contributors to maternal physical and psychological health. The benefits and potential risks of exercise during pregnancy have gained even more attention, with a number of studies having been published after the 2002 American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists guidelines. A review of the literature was conducted by using PubMed, Scopus, and Embase to assess the literature regarding the benefits of exercise during pregnancy. The search revealed 219 publications, which the authors then narrowed to 125 publications. The purpose of this review is to briefly summarize the known benefits of exercise to the mother, fetus, and newborn.

Benefits of Exercise During Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a good time to develop healthy lifestyle habits including regular exercise and good nutrition. Programs of physical exercise for pregnant women have been recommended; however, there are few references on this subject in the literature. The objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of pregnant women with respect to appropriate physical exercise during pregnancy, and also to investigate why some women do not exercise during pregnancy. A descriptive study was conducted in which 161 women of 18 to 45 years of age were interviewed in the third trimester of pregnancy. These women were receiving prenatal care at National Health Service (SUS) primary healthcare units and had no pathologies for which physical exercise would constitute a risk. The women were selected at an ultrasonography clinic accredited to the SUS in Campinas, Sao Paulo. A previously elaborated knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) questionnaire was used to collect data, which were then stored in an Epinfo database. Statistical analysis was conducted using Pearson's chi-square test and Fisher's exact test to evaluate the association between the study variables (p < 0.05). Almost two-thirds (65.6%) of the women were sufficiently informed about the practice of physical exercise during pregnancy and the vast majority (93.8%) was in favor of it. Nevertheless, only just over 20% of the women in this sample exercised adequately. Significant associations were found between an adequate knowledge of physical exercise during pregnancy and education level (p = 0.0014) and between the adequate practice of physical exercise during pregnancy and having had fewer pregnancies (p = 0.0001). Lack of time and feeling tired and uncomfortable were the principal reasons given by the women for not exercising. These results suggest that women's knowledge concerning the practice of physical exercise during pregnancy is reasonable and their attitude is favorable; however, relatively few actually exercise during pregnancy.

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Knowledge, attitude and practice of women in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil with respect to physical exercise in pregnancy: a descriptive study

PURPOSE: to evaluate the association between women's menstrual experience and preferred changes in their menstrual cycles. METHODS: a cross-sectional study design was used. A total of 420 women were interviewed. Participants complied with the following criteria: age (18 to 20, 25 to 34 and 45 to 49 years); schooling ( 12 years); having menstruated during the three months previous to the study. Subjects were selected in the city of Campinas (SP), in nine private and seven public health services. For data collection, a questionnaire was prepared on the basis of the results of a previous pilot study that consisted of small groups. A data bank was prepared with the information registered in the questionnaires and the analysis was carried out with SAS, version 8.2. For the statistical analysis, the Pearson c2 test and the Fisher exact test were used to evaluate the association between variables (p<0.05). RESULTS: most subjects preferred greater than once a month intervals between menstruations. There was an association of the typical menstrual intervals experienced by women (p=0.0248) and the degree of interference of menstruation with daily activities (p=0.048) with the preferred interval between menses. However, there was no association between preferred intervals by women and the following characteristics of pain: duration, intensity and use of medication. CONCLUSIONS: the results suggest that women would like intervals longer than one month or to never menstruate.

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Preferências de mulheres brasileiras quanto a mudanças na menstruação

Objetivo: Avaliar a associacao entre a experiencia menstrual de mulheres e as mudancas preferidas na menstruacao Metodos: Estudo de corte transversal, no qual 420 mulheres foram entrevistadas, alocadas em tres grupos de idade (18 - 20; 25 - 34 e 45 - 49 anos), e de escolaridade (≤ 8 anos e ≥ 12 anos) e que tinham menstruado nos tres meses que antecederam a entrevista As mulheres foram selecionadas na cidade de Campinas, SP, em nove servicos de saude privados e sete servicos publicos Nestes locais foram abordadas mulheres que estavam esperando atendimento e aquelas que cumpriam com os criterios de inclusao (Lista de Verificacao) e aceitavam participar do estudo eram entrevistadas Para a coleta de dados foi utilizado um questionario construido com base nos resultados de um estudo-piloto previo, que foi realizado com grupos focais Foi constituido um banco de dados com as informacoes registradas nos questionarios e os dados foram analisados atraves do software SAS versao 82 Para analise estatistica utilizou-se o teste qui-quadrado de Pearson e o teste exato de Fisher para avaliar a associacao entre as variaveis estudadas (p < 0,05) Resultados: A maioria das mulheres menstruava regularmente, durante cinco dias ao mes, com intervalos de 24 a 32 dias A maioria tinha dor ou desconforto durante a menstruacao e metade das que tinham dor considerava-a forte Houve associacao entre o intervalo preferido entre menstruacoes (maior que uma vez por mes) e os intervalos caracteristicos da menstruacao das mulheres (p = 0,0248), bem como com o grau de interferencia da menstruacao nas atividades diarias (p=0,048) Entretanto, nao houve associacao entre o intervalo preferido pelas mulheres e as caracteristicas da dor: duracao, intensidade e uso de medicacao Conclusao: Os resultados sugerem que as mulheres gostariam de menstruar em intervalos maiores do que um mes ou ate gostariam de nunca menstruar
Abstr

http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/bitstream/REPOSIP/312368/1/Ribeiro_CarmenSilviaPorto_M.pdf

Experiencia menstrual e preferencias por mudanças na menstruação

OBJETIVO: Verificar a associacao entre capacidades funcionais e qualidade de vida de idosos sedentarios. METODOS: Foram selecionados 48 idosos (16 homens e 32 mulheres) sedentarios para a pesquisa. As capacidades funcionais avaliadas foram: preensao manual (dinamometro Jamar), velocidade de marcha (4,6m), teste de agilidade ( time up and go –TUG) e o teste de levantar e sentar da cadeira. A qualidade de vida foi avaliada atraves do questionario WHOQOL-bref, considerando os dominios fisico, psicologico, relacoes sociais e meio ambiente. Foram separados os grupamentos de maior e menor desempenho em cada capacidade funcional atraves da divisao por grupamentos K. Comparou-se os grupos de melhor e de pior desempenho para todos os dominios de qualidade de vida atraves do teste Mann-Whitney. RESULTADOS: A forca de preensao manual foi significantemente associada a qualidade de vida total (r=0,3). Alem disso, os grupos de maior forca de preensao manual e maior velocidade no TUG apresentaram maior qualidade de vida. CONCLUSOES: A forca de preensao manual e a principal capacidade funcional diretamente associada a qualidade de vida de idosos. Este achado reforca a importância do treinamento de forca muscular em programas voltados a qualidade de vida desta populacao.

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Carmen Porto Ribeiro

Papers

Knowledge, attitude and practice of women in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil with respect to physical exercise in pregnancy: a descriptive study

Preferências de mulheres brasileiras quanto a mudanças na menstruação

Experiencia menstrual e preferencias por mudanças na menstruação

Importância da força muscular para a qualidade de vida de idosos sedentários