The Effects of Listening to Lullabies and Self-Selected Music on Distress and Maternal Attachment in Pregnant Women: A Randomized Controlled Study

Abstract

Context center dot Pregnant women may experience distress as a result of physical and psychosocial changes, and this distress affects the development of maternal attachment negatively. During pregnancy care and follow-up, reducing women's pregnancy-related distress and improving maternal attachment are important. Objective center dot To compare the effects of listening to lullabies and self-selected music in reducing distress and increasing maternal attachment in pregnant women. Design center dot This study is a randomized controlled trial. It was conducted using power analysis for a type-I error rate of a = 0.05, type-II error rate of beta = 0.20, representative power of 0.64, and effect size of 0.81. Setting center dot The study took place at a secondary care hospital in a provincial center in Turkey. Participants center dot The participants were 120 pregnant women who came to the outpatient clinic for pregnancy followups between June 2021 and October 2021. Intervention center dot The participants were allocated to one of three groups, with 40 women in each. For 30 minutes every day, for two weeks, the lullaby group (LG) only listened to lullaby records at home, and the multi-music group (MG) listened to self-selected music from different records; the control group (CG) did not listen to any music. Outcome Measures center dot The Prenatal Distress Questionnaire and the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale were used to collect data. Results center dot Prenatal distress levels were lower in the intervention groups than in the CG (P <.01), and they were lower in the MG than in the LG (P <.05). Antenatal attachment levels were higher in the intervention groups than in the CG (P <.01), and they were higher in the LG than in the MG (P <.05). Conclusions center dot For pregnant women, listening to selfselected music was more effective in reducing distress, whereas listening to lullabies selected by the researcher was more effective in increasing attachment. ClinicalTrials.gov ID number center dot NCT05228392.