Effect of Music Therapy During Kangaroo Care on Premature Infants

At a conference several years ago, Denise Speer, MSN, RN, then nurse manager of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Cleveland Clinic Fairview Hospital, had a conversation with a music therapist who worked on the hospital’s pediatric psychiatric unit. They discussed services she could provide to premature infants in the NICU and the therapist was invited into the NICU to play music for the babies.

“Before you knew it, our nurses started raving about how good the music seemed to make the babies feel,” says Speer, now director of Women’s and Children’s Service at Fairview Hospital. “I wanted the music therapist to continue to provide music in the unit, so we initiated a research project to see if music therapy really benefitted premature babies.”

Completed earlier this year, the randomized controlled study examined the effects of music therapy during kangaroo care on physiological parameters in preterm infants with gestational age of 32 weeks or less and on parental stress levels. The study had 91 mother-infant participants who were randomized into an intervention group that received kangaroo care along with 15 to 20 minutes of live music therapy or a control group that received kangaroo care alone. Among infants, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and number of apnea/bradycardia spells were measured in both groups before and after kangaroo care began.

“For years, the literature has talked about how kangaroo care improves a baby’s growth, decreases their need for oxygen and improves physiological parameters,” says Speer. “Our results validated some of benefits of kangaroo care previously reported, including a decrease in infant heart rate and respiratory rate after 30 minutes of kangaroo. However, our research team was unable to substantiate the primary hypothesis, as there were no between-group improvements in heart rate, respiratory rate or the number of apnea/bradycardia spells in preterm infants 32 weeks gestation or less.”

The research team also examined anxiety and stress level of parents as measured by pre- and post-intervention administration of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) for Adults, Form Y-1. Data are currently being analyzed by a biostatistician.

Though the findings on infants did not show an improvement in physiological parameters, they were constructive. “With premature babies, you worry so much about noise and the impact it has on them,” says Speer. “This study showed us that music is not noise. It did not negatively impact the baby’s physiological profiles.”