The early birth of a premature baby can be a devastating and unplanned situation for parents. Often, their baby cannot be readily held; they can be very sick and fragile. Parents can feel helpless; bonding may be more difficult, parental control is superseded by medical necessity and parents can feel tremendous guilt whenever they are unable to be present at their baby's bedside. The investigators believe that giving parents an opportunity to provide comfort in the form of the mother's voice, pre-recorded and played to her baby, will improve her feeling about her baby in the NICU. The investigators hypothesize that playing the mother's recorded voice to her extremely preterm infant while in the incubator when she cannot be present will improve the depression, anxiety and stress as well as overall feeling about her baby. The investigators will assess the change in depression, anxiety and stress with the use of a validated tool (the DASS21), as a result of the intervention. The investigators will also assess the improvement of her feelings with a questionnaire () to be administered before and after the intervention. The investigators predict that her depression, anxiety and stress as well as positive feeling will increase after the intervention. The investigators also predict that the infant's vital signs will remain stable and/or improve when the recording is played.
See this in plain English?
AI-rewrites the medical criteria so a patient or caregiver can understand them. Always confirm with the trial site.
Maternal response to Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale(DASS)
Timeframe: Baseline to 23 days