Health Behavior Change in Pregnant Women With Obesity

To identify various motivators and barriers in the pre-contemplation and contemplation stages of change that can occur during pregnancy, which can influence lifestyle interventions that are implemented during pregnancy.

An electronic search of the literature was conducted using Web of Science and all databases within EBSCOhost.

A study was included if the population was identified as pregnant women ages 13 to 44 years to include women of childbearing age and if it incorporated a lifestyle intervention that integrated nutrition and/or physical activity. Eleven manuscripts were reviewed, including nine quantitative studies, one qualitative study, and one mixed-methods study. Seven of the nine quantitative studies were randomized controlled trials.

Articles were reviewed to identify barriers and motivators related to lifestyle interventions in pregnant women with obesity.

Data were analyzed according to the pre-contemplation and contemplation stages of change and how women felt during pregnancy in relation to making a positive behavioral change during this time period.

Pregnancy is an opportunity to address health behavior change. Recognizing both barriers and motivators during this time frame can allow for more focused interventions to be created and applied to the population.