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Development of family-centred care informing Nordic neonatal music therapy
Örebro University, School of Music, Theatre and Art. Centre for Clinical Research, Region Värmland, Karlstad, Sweden. (Musiken och Människan, PEARL- Pain in Early Life)ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4436-4258
The Grieg Academy Music Therapy Research Centre, Bergen, Norway; NORCE, Bergen, Norway.
Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway.
2019 (English)In: Music in paediatric hospitals – Nordic perspectives / [ed] Lars Ole Bonde, Kjersti Johansson, Oslo: CREMAH, Norwegian Academy of Music , 2019, p. 1-25Chapter in book (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Since the 1990s, the concept of family-centred care, where the family and healthcare staff share responsibility for the infant’s hospital care, has been part of an ongoing paradigm shift in neonatal care globally. The public health care system with family-friendly parental leave policies might be one of the reasons that the Nordic countries today are at the forefront of welcoming and including parents and partners in the care of their infant round the clock. When implementing neonatal music therapy (NICU MT) in the context of Nordic health care, music therapy models of practice as well as research ought to be defined and shaped by the family-centred care model, which today is considered best practice. The Nordic context also offers favourable conditions for further developing NICU MT approaches in line with family-centred care. NICU MT was first developed in the USA in the 1980s and the interventions were infantfocused, emphasising the infant’s physical and medical needs, which was the existing care focus in neonatal care at that time. Neonatal music therapy and research in the Nordic countries is still in its infancy. Systematic implementation work was first initiated in Karlstad, Sweden in 2010 and in Akershus and Oslo, Norway in 2017. 

This essay provides the international music therapy field as well as other professionals in paediatric and neonatal health care an insight into the evolving Nordic approach of NICU MT. The conclusion of this essay is that the familycentred care approach in the Nordic NICUs, combined with the progressive family politics in the Nordic countries with generous parental leave schemes and gender equality in childcare, afford important prerequisites to further develop NICU MT as a truly family-centred approach.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Oslo: CREMAH, Norwegian Academy of Music , 2019. p. 1-25
Series
CREMAH Anthology ; 11
Keywords [en]
neonatal music therapy, Nordic perspective, family-centred care, infants, pain management
National Category
Musicology
Research subject
Musicology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-77701OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-77701DiVA, id: diva2:1367368
Note

Funding Agency:

Centre for Clinical Research, Region Värmland, Karlstad, Sweden

Available from: 2019-11-03 Created: 2019-11-03 Last updated: 2022-06-21Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Singing, sharing, soothing: Family-centred music therapy during painful procedures in neonatal care
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Singing, sharing, soothing: Family-centred music therapy during painful procedures in neonatal care
2019 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

To sing is to communicate. The soothing, comforting and emotional regulating properties of a lullaby are well-known cross-culturally and historically. This doctoral thesis addresses neonatal pain management from a novel and groundbreaking perspective, studying the efficacy of live music therapy on infants’ pain responses during venepuncture. New research is needed to advance the non-pharmacological interventions in neonatal pain care, and neonatal music therapy (NICU MT) offers active methods to involve the parents in pain management. The doctoral thesis includes two empirical and two theoretical articles. In paper I, preterm and term infants (n=38) were subjected to venepuncture with and without live lullaby singing, in a randomised order with a crossover design. Parent-preferred lullabies were performed live by a music therapy student and standard care was provided for all infants. The results did not show any significant pain-alleviating effects, however, the live singing was not stressful for the infants.

In paper II, the microanalysis disclosed that live lullaby singing is a communicative reciprocal intervention that also applies to premature infants during painful procedures. Live lullaby singing is a tool suitable as a means to optimise the homeostatic mechanisms. The results from the theoretical papers III and IV are further developed and synthesised in the thesis into a theoretical strategy; The Nordic NICU MT pain management strategy, featuring the parents and their singing voices as mediators for pain relief. The role of the music therapist in neonatal pain management is as a facilitator and an educator for the parents. Coaching parents to better meet their infant’s attachment needs during a painful procedure may lead to more efficacious interventions. The biopsychosocial parental infant-directed singing is presumably an applicable parent-driven non-pharmacological intervention, which promotes pain relief and attachment formation during painful procedures. Neonatal music therapy is still in its infancy in the Nordic countries, but the societal and healthcare contexts afford important prerequisites to further develop NICU MT as a truly family-centred approach. This doctoral thesis will hopefully contribute to the important interdisciplinary endeavour worldwide of involving and integrating parents in neonatal pain management.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Örebro: Örebro University, 2019. p. 134
Series
Örebro Studies in Musicology ; 4
Keywords
music therapy, pain management, premature infants, family-centred, infant-directed singing, venepuncture, parents, dynamic forms of vitality
National Category
Musicology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-77285 (URN)978-91-7529-313-4 (ISBN)
Public defence
2019-12-13, Örebro universitet, Hörsalen, Musikhögskolan, Fakultetsgatan 1, Örebro, 13:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2019-10-14 Created: 2019-10-14 Last updated: 2019-11-20Bibliographically approved

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