Antenatal pelvic floor exercises: a survey of both patients' and health professionals' beliefs and practice.

The aim was to discover how often women perform pelvic floor exercises (PFE) in the antenatal period and how they wished to be taught. We compared this with the opinions of the health professionals looking after them. A total of 54 women attending the antenatal day assessment unit completed questionnaires. A total of 21 obstetricians, 29 midwives and 25 GPs returned similar questionnaires. Most women think they should be performing PFE daily but only 15% do so. Some 57% of the women wanted to be taught in the antenatal period. Over 50% of the women/midwives believed that PFE should be taught in an individual basis. Obstetricians/GPs favoured classes. A total of 76% of the women want midwives to teach them PFE and 57% of midwives agree. Most health professionals felt that they had not received adequate training on PFE. The midwife is felt to be the best placed person to teach PFE. Health professionals give PFE low priority.