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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Pediatric Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1440905
This article is part of the Research Topic Medical Neurohumanities: Sharing Insights from Medicine, Neuroscience and Music in Pediatric Care View all 9 articles

Parental Singing during Kangaroo Care: Parents' Experiences of Singing to their Preterm Infant in the NICU

Provisionally accepted
Pernilla Hugoson Pernilla Hugoson 1,2*Friederike Barbara Haslbeck Friederike Barbara Haslbeck 3Louise Eulau Louise Eulau 1,4*
  • 1 Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 2 Sachs' Children and Youth Hospital, Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 3 Newborn Research, Department of Neonatology, University Hospital Zürich, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 4 Sophiahemmet University College, Stockholm, Sweden

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Singing fosters emotional connections, attachment, bonding, and language development in infants. Prematurely born infants, however, are at risk of missing this vital communication, impacting neurodevelopment and family well-being, especially during prolonged hospital stays. Kangaroo care provides physiological and emotional support, while Creative Music Therapy (CMT) has demonstrated positive effects on neurodevelopment, parental well-being, and attachment. The Singing Kangaroo project, a Swedish-Finnish multi-center randomized controlled trial (RCT), investigated the impact of parental singing during kangaroo care. This qualitative follow-up study explores these findings through the lens of Antonovsky’s Sense of Coherence (SOC) model. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 families (20 intervention group, 8 control group) at their infant’s 5-month corrected age. The intervention group received CMT twice weekly during kangaroo care for four weeks in the NICU, while the control group received standard care. Data were analyzed inductively, followed by deductive categorization within the SOC framework, focusing on its three core components: Manageability, Comprehensibility, and Meaningfulness. Results: Parents in the intervention group reported enhanced understanding of how singing fosters attachment and boosts their self-esteem, aligning with increased manageability and comprehensibility. Control group parents also experienced joy in singing, which positively influenced family well-being, albeit less extensively. Across both groups, singing was described as a meaningful activity that strengthened parent-infant bonding and promoted emotional connection within the family. Conclusion: Parental singing during kangaroo care, particularly when supported by a trained music therapist, enhances parents’ sense of coherence by fostering comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness. This study highlights the long-term benefits of integrating CMT into family-centered NICU care to support both infants' neurodevelopment and family well-being.

    Keywords: Emotional attachment, Kangaroo Care, Music Therapy, NICu, Parents' experiences, Parental singing, Patient and family centered care, preterm infant

    Received: 31 May 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Hugoson, Haslbeck and Eulau. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Pernilla Hugoson, Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, 118 83, Stockholm, Sweden
    Louise Eulau, Sophiahemmet University College, Stockholm, Sweden

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.