3.6. Normal daily activity pattern

A record of the activity pattern of each mother was obtained for the whole 24 hours on each of five consecutive days. This was done using the activity-diary technique first described by DURNIN (1952), whereby a detailed minute-by-minute record was procured of all the separate activities of the day. These were then subdivided in large categories - bed, sitting, standing, housework, walking - so that comparisons could be made of any changes in the total time spent in these activities as pregnancy progressed.

The activity-diary was filled in by the mothers themselves in Scotland and in Holland; in the three developing countries this was done by a trained (local) observer.