PURPOSE: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of music therapy as auditory stimulus on the heart rate and behavioral state of premature infants. METHOD: The study design was a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Forty premature infants who were admitted at NICU were selected and assigned to two groups, experimental and control. Data were collected from April 20 to July 31, 2003 and analysed using Wilcoxon rank sum test and ANCOVA. Infants in experimental group were given music therapy for 20 minutes daily in 7 days at the average level of 56dB. RESULTS: The first hypothesis that 'Infants in the experimental group will be lower in heart rate than those in the control group' was rejected(F= .05, p= .816). The 2nd hypothesis that 'Infants in the experimental group will be lower in behavioral state score than those in the control group, was supported(F=7.40, p= .010). CONCLUSION: The music therapy in this study was an effective nursing intervention in decreasing the heart rate and behavioral state score of premature infants.
Heart Rate* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature* ; Music Therapy* ; Music* ; Nursing ; Child Health