| Abstract [eng] |
The Effects of Music Therapy for Premature Infants and Maternal Stress Changers Premature birth is responsible for impairing natural development of the fetus, discontinuing a biological relationship with the mother, and eliciting considerable stress for both mothers and their babies and close relatives as well. Biological immaturity of premature babies and dependence of their vital functions on maintenance of artificial conditions and on necessary equipment of intensive care become an ordeal for family members of the newborns. Long-term consequences of the stress experienced by the infants, for the most part, influence the newborn’s convalescence period and further psychological and physical development at pre-school and school age. One of the means dwindling an impact of inadequate stimuli of the environment of a health care institution is music therapy. Unfortunately, music therapy for premature babies in Lithuania has infrequently been applied; one lacks clinical data on what influence music exerts on the stress undergone by both mothers and their babies. Master’s research paper therefore aims to evaluate the influence of music therapy over the stress mothers and their premature babies experience, as well as on their relationship. The hypothesis is set forth – music therapy minimizes the stress a premature baby and his or her mother live through and increases their interdependence. First, the mothers of premature babies are informed about the importance of music therapy and are also encouraged to sing to their babies. A qualitative evaluation of individual interviews of those researched has been performed, and the influence of mothers’ singing over the relationship with their babies has been ascertained. Referring to occupational therapy of the stress undergone by parents and their babies, the impact of music therapy on a degree of the stress lived through by premature babies and their parents has been determined. The mothers’ opinion on applying music therapy for babies has been surveyed through questionnaire. The findings of the results have demonstrated that mothers responded positively to music therapy. They state that it has consolidated the relationship with their babies. Research on parental stress has shown that the altered role of parents toward their babies result in a tremendous amount of stress for parents – that is, the separation from a child; the inability to feed the baby on her own, to take care of him or her, to hold the baby on her hands; the feeling of helplessness evoked by little understanding of how to provide help for her own baby or protect him or her from enduring pain. A feeble image of the baby, his or her involuntary movements, and body size make mothers stress greatly. At the end of the research a level of the stress experienced by all the mothers surveyed in the study has diminished slightly or to an average. At the start of the research a majority of babies have been characterized by possessing the following stress-inherent signs: fan-stretched fingers, yawning, hiccups and contractions, legs extension, wincing. At the end of the research a level of the stress undergone by all the babies researched in the study has decreased. Yawning as a stress indicator of the nervous system has changed the least. It has been observed in almost half of the babies researched, irrespective of music therapy. Mothers who have participated actively in music therapy and spontaneously sung to their babies have built up a higher degree of self-confidence and been able to easily establish a connection with their babies. Hence the hypothesis has been corroborated partially: the relationship between mother and baby has been strengthened. In two weeks, however, the signs of stress for both mothers and their babies grow rare, independently from an impact of music therapy. |
