Efficacy of Antenatal Yoga for Improvement in Quality of Life – a Pilot Study

Abstract

Pregnancy is a unique phase in the life of a woman. This exciting and vulnerable time initiates many changes at a physical, psychological, and emotional level. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of integrated yogic practices on the quality of life among pregnant women. For this pilot study, we enrolled 20 pregnant women who were between 9 and 25 weeks at gestation. Single group pre-post design was used. An integrated yoga module specially developed for antenatal conditions was administered over a 12-week integrated yoga module to the participants. Quality of Life Scale was used as a tool of assessment. Data was collected at base and at the end of 12 weeks after the protocol was administered. Paired sample T-test was applied using SPSS software to analyze this data. Statistical analysis of the data collected, demonstrated that value of t test was 3.177 which was significant at 0.01 level The findings showed that yoga intervention was efficacious in improving the Quality of Life. No adverse effects of yoga were observed among those who practiced yoga during pregnancy. The results demonstrate that antenatal yoga may be an effective intervention to enhance quality of life. More rigorous studies over a longer duration with larger sample sizes would be required to establish a definitive connection between yoga intervention and quality of life among antenatal cohort.