Purpose: The main focus of this study was the perceived benefits of exercise among pregnant mothers in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Cross River State. In order to successfully carry out the study, objectives and research questions with corresponding hypothesis’were1 formulated to guide the study. Literature was reviewed based on the research variables, Methods: The research instrument used in collecting data for analysis was a questionnaire which was administered on one hundred and fifty (150) pregnant mothers’ in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital who served as sample for the study. Their responses were analyzed using frequencies, percentage and Pearson product moment correlation analysis and the following results were obtained. Result: The study reveal that majority of the respondents 97(64.7%) asserted that they have never heard about specific exercise for pregnant mothers while 53(35.3%) said they have. Majority of the respondents 84(56%) asserted that they like antenatal exercise because it improves easy delivery during labor while 66(44%) of the respondent said no. None the less, 43(28.7%) of the respondents said yes that ignorance affect the benefit of exercise for pregnant mothers’ while 107(71.3%) said no, it doesn’t. Conclusion: The study revealed that the respondents’ knowledge of benefits of exercise was good. However despite the above, minority of the respondents still demonstrated poor knowledge and unfavorable attitude which may be due to those factors identified as hindrance to the benefit of exercise.
Keywords: Exercise, perceived benefit, pregnant mothers
