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Updated: Aug 5, 2026
Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Published on: January 7, 2020
Developing a Music-Based Mobile Health Intervention for Parents and Staff in Neonatal Care and Beyond: Online Focus
Julia Seinsche1, Bettina Schwind1,2, Jörg Haslbeck1
1Careum School of Health, Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences, Zurich, Switzerland.
Background:
Creative music therapy (CMT) in preterm infants has been associated with improved health outcomes in both parents and infants while promoting parent-infant bonding. However, access to CMT is limited.
Objective:
This study aimed to explore the needs and preferences of parents of preterm infants and health care professionals as a first step in developing a CMT-based mobile health (mHealth) intervention.
Methods:
An iterative qualitative study combining multistakeholder online focus groups with mind mapping. Map contributions were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Results:
A total of 20 participants (7 parents, 1 grandparent, and 12 health care professionals) contributed to creating the mind map, offering insights into the identified five themes: (1) aims of the mHealth intervention, (2) desired functions and design, (3) content, (4) important factors for acceptability, and (5) usability beyond the neonatal intensive care unit.
Conclusions:
The study highlights critical considerations for designing a CMT-based mHealth intervention. The in-depth user insights gathered will inform iterative development and refinement of the intervention, which will be evaluated in future usability, feasibility, and effectiveness studies.