Effect of early intervention program applied to premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit on comfort and development

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of singing a lullaby with compassionate touch on early comfort and later on development of developmental support program in premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Materials and Methods: This study is a randomized controlled experimental study. The research was carried out in Aydın Adnan Menderes University Application and Research Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit between 28 November 2021 and 18 July 2022. Premature infants at 330/7 -366/7 weeks of gestation who were hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit were included in the sampling. The sample consisted of n=57 premature infants, n=27 in the study group and n=30 in the control group. Data were collected in two stages. In the first stage, mothers sang lullabies to the infants in the study group three times a week and touched them tenderly. In the second stage, developmental support program (GEDEP) was applied to the same infants for three months starting from the 40th week of gestation. The infants in the control group were given routine care. In data collection, Mother and Newborn Descriptive Information Form, Premature Infant Comfort Scale (PICS), Developmental Support Program Evaluation Form, GEDEP user guide form and Sound Decibel Measurement Device were used. Data were evaluated with Chi-square test, Student's t-test and one-way analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon test. For repeated measurements, dependent groups t test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used. Results: The mean PICS scores of the study and control groups before the application were statistically significantly higher than after the application. After the application, the mean PICS score of the study group was significantly lower than that of the control group. Social-emotional development skills of the infants in the study group in the first month -1, receptive language skills-2, receptive language skills-3, expressive language skills-1, expressive language skills-3 and expressive language skills-4, cognitive skills-1, the rates of performing cognitive skills-2 and small muscle skills-1 skills were higher than the infants in the control group (p<0.05). While there was a significant difference between the ability of the infants in the study and control groups to perform receptive language skill-3 in the second month, there was no difference in all domains of receptive language skill-1, receptive language skill-2, expressive language skills and motor skills. While there was no statistically significant difference in all domains of receptive language skills, expressive language skills and motor skills at the third month between the infants in the study and control groups, the rate of performing the cognitive skill-4 skill of the study group was higher than that of the control group, and this difference was statistically significant. Conclusion: In premature infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit, singing a lullaby with compassionate touching increased the comfort of the infant, and the application of GEDEP showed a positive effect on social emotional development, language development and cognitive development.