Music Therapy in the NICU
Over the past decades, music in medicine has received increasing attention, but specific knowledge on the effects of music in neonatal medicine is still scarce. This project aims to investigate live-performed music therapy for extremely and very preterm infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and their parents, starting the first or second week after birth. Premature babies possibly benefit from live-performed music therapy as a comforting non-pharmacological intervention.
In a recent feasibility study, infants born before 30 weeks’ gestation were included in a single centre NICU study. Live-performed music therapy was provided three times per week, tailored to the infants’ medical condition. Parents were actively involved. Feasibility was determined as a combination of participation, drop-out, overstimulation (based on COMFORT-Neo scores), and evaluations of the intervention by parents and nurses (using a questionnaire on perceived effects on the parents, their infants and the NICU sound environment). Differences of COMFORT-Neo scores during and after sessions compared with before sessions were non-significant; overstimulation by music therapy did not occur. Parents reported high satisfaction with the interventions and reported improvements in both infant and their own respiratory rates. Nurses also reported high satisfaction with the intervention and perceived a quieter NICU sound environment during and after sessions.
Live-performed music therapy for extremely and very preterm infants is feasible and well tolerated, and is experienced as an added value to developmental care. Future studies should assess both short term and long term effects, to determine whether this intervention should be part of routine care at the NICU and whether it is most beneficial to start shortly after birth.
This project is connected to the Professorship in Music-Based Therapies and Interventions (MTI). ArtEZ also offers a Bachelor course in Music Therapy en een Master's course Music Therapy.