Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses

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    An investigation of premature infant response to recorded music with maternal involvement versus no maternal involvement: a randomised control trial
    Dearn, Patricia M. ( 2011)
    The incidence of premature birth has increased over the past two decades in Australia. While survival rates have improved and stabilised, there has not been a decrease of neuro-developmental and behavioural problems arising from prematurity. Because of this, there is an increasing understanding of the need to address non-medical needs of the premature infant in hospital including the integral role of the family during this time. In a repeated-measures randomised control trial, this study sought to determine the effect of maternal presence on the premature infant’s physiological and behavioural response to recorded music and on infant status overall. Participants were 22 clinically stable premature infants (born at >28 weeks gestation and enrolled at >32 weeks gestation) and their mothers in the NICU. Both Experimental and Control groups were exposed to one session consisting of a baseline of 6 minutes of ambient noise, followed by two alternating 6 minute periods of music and no-music (total 30 minutes). The Experimental group infants had the mother present for the first twelve minutes (baseline and first music period) compared to the Control group without mother present at any time. The auditory stimulus was the NICU ambient noise, and the music stimulus was recorded lullaby music. Physiological monitoring included heart rate and oxygen saturation. The infant's behavioural state was classified using the Six Derived States of Behaviour classifications (Thoman, 1990). A Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) model was used to analyse the physiological and behavioural responses. There were no significant effects of maternal presence on physiological or behavioural outcome measures in either group over time. The Experimental group had consistently lower heart rate than the Control group. There was a significant difference in oxygen saturation (p< 0.05) between the Mother Present and Mother Absent periods in the Experimental group and infants responded to music with more Quiet Sleep and higher oxygen saturation in the presence of the mother. Findings from this study suggest that maternal presence had a positive effect on premature infant physiological and behavioural status during music and no music periods and a significant effect on oxygen saturation. This finding is worthy of more substantial investigation.