Abstract
(1) Background: This study investigated parents’ motives for enrolling preterm infants into music therapy intervention studies during Neonatal Intensive Care hospitalization. (2) Methods: We surveyed Israeli parents of preterm infants after they consented or refused to participate in such studies. The pre-piloted questionnaires evaluated attitudes toward research and music therapy intervention studies. The study included 116 (57%) parents who agreed to participate in music therapy studies and 87 (43%) who declined. (3) Results: Infants of those who agreed to participate were younger (17 ± 2.3 vs. 28 ± 4.7 days old, p = 0.03) and sicker (Clinical Risk Index for Babies score 6.1 ± 2.7 vs. 3.68 ± 4.1, p = 0.04). More single-parent families declined to participate (p = 0.05). Parents agreed to participate because they thought the study might help their child, would improve future care of preterm infants and increase medical knowledge (all p < 0.05). In addition, they perceived music as beneficial for brain development, thought it might improve bonding, and routinely listened to music daily. (4) Conclusions: When recruiting parents and preterm infants for music therapy intervention studies, one should highlight potential contributions to the child’s health, future children’s health and medical knowledge. Stressing music as a potential tool for brain development and augmenting bonding is important. The best time to recruit is when improvements are still anticipated.
Highlights
Introduction published maps and institutional affilThe opportunities for advancements in the prevention and treatment of diseases that affect preterm infants are crucial to improving care for this vulnerable population [1].Advances in clinical medicine are often the result of clinical research; studies on preterm infants are limited, due to the extra care required when designing studies with this population
Annotation: * Mean ± Standard Deviation. This is the first study to evaluate the determinants of parental decision-making regarding enrolling preterm infants in clinical music therapy (MT) intervention studies, examining issues regarding research among this vulnerable population and specific factors related to willingness to participate in these studies
As brain development is a primary concern of parents of preterm infants hospitalized for long periods in the Neonatal IntensiveCare Unit (NICU), our primary outcome hypothesis was that those who agreed to participate perceived music as more beneficial for brain development, which was confirmed by the study
Summary
The opportunities for advancements in the prevention and treatment of diseases that affect preterm infants are crucial to improving care for this vulnerable population [1]. Advances in clinical medicine are often the result of clinical research; studies on preterm infants are limited, due to the extra care required when designing studies with this population. To the best of our knowledge, the views and perceptions of parents about the benefits of research and their participation as proxy consent givers have been assessed in only a few studies so far [2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. The methodology of studies that explored parental willingness to participate in research during their infants stay in the Neonatal Intensive. As characterized in a few studies, the primary motives of parents to participate in clinical trials during their children’s NICU hospitalization were helping iations
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
