MUSIC THERAPY INTERVENTION FOR THE MOTHER-PRETERM INFANT DYAD - MUSIP: : PART 2

Abstract

This work describes the protocol of the Music Therapy Intervention for the Mother-Preterm Infant Dyad - MUSIP, developed for applications in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). MUSIP is an early, individualized and family-centered intervention, aimed at sensitizing and supporting maternal singing with the preterm baby. After initial studies, the intervention was extended and implemented in a public hospital in Porto Alegre with 16 mother-preterm infant dyads. The MUSIP involves six individual sessions with the mother-preterm infant dyad in the NICU, using three techniques: singing of familiar songs, infant-directed singing, and songwriting. Results suggest that MUSIP contributes to enhance maternal mental health, to foster infants’ stabilization and emotional arousal, and to promote mother-infant interactional synchrony. MUSIP applications in clinical contexts and possible adaptations to different family’s needs and cultural characteristics and to NICU particularities are discussed.