Parental Perception of Vocal Contact with Preterm Infants: Communicative Musicality in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

In this study, we evaluate mothers’ subjective experience of speaking and singing to their infants while they are in their incubators. We also discuss the relevance of the theoretical framework of Communicative Musicality for identifying the underlying mechanisms that may help explain its beneficial...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Children (Basel) 2021-06, Vol.8 (6), p.513
Main Authors: Monaci, Maria Grazia, Gratier, Maya, Trevarthen, Colwyn, Grandjean, Didier, Kuhn, Pierre, Filippa, Manuela
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Babies
Communication
early intervention
Emotions
Families & family life
Gestational age
Human health and pathology
Intensive care
Life Sciences
maternal voice
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Mothers
Newborn babies
Noise
Parents & parenting
Pediatrics
Physiology
Premature babies
preterm infants
Singing
Speaking
Speech
Stress
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Summary:In this study, we evaluate mothers’ subjective experience of speaking and singing to their infants while they are in their incubators. We also discuss the relevance of the theoretical framework of Communicative Musicality for identifying the underlying mechanisms that may help explain its beneficial effects, both for parents and infants. Nineteen mothers talked and sung to their stable preterm infants in the incubators, for 5 min each, in three sessions over a period of 6 days. After each session, mothers were asked to assess in a self-report questionnaire the ease and the effectiveness of addressing their infants by speaking and singing and their prior musical experience. Perceived ease and effectiveness in communication were found to increase progressively from one session to the next. Mothers rated the speech to be increasingly more effective. This intuitive mean of interaction between parents and infants could be encouraged and supported by the nurses and the medical staff. Furthermore, individual musical experience affects perceived ease of communicating vocally with infants after a premature birth and should thus be encouraged during pregnancy.
ISSN:2227-9067
2227-9067
DOI:10.3390/children8060513