The Response of the Infant to the Father's Voice in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

BACKGROUND

The formation of the family is interrupted following a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admission, and fathers report experiencing delayed infant bonding due to unit barriers and separation. Fathers state comfort with early infant bonding through language, fearing physical contact with the sick newborn. During hospitalization, active engagement supports ongoing infant/parent vocalization and infant stabilization.

PURPOSE: This prospective descriptive pilot study explored the infant's physiological response to the father's voice during a live reading activity.

METHODS

After Institutional Review Board approval and consent, 27 infant/father dyads were observed pre/post and during a live reading activity. All infants were in private rooms and positioned supine in open cribs, adjusted to 36 weeks or greater postmenstrual age, in a 34-bed Level III NICU in the Midwest. Outcome measures included cerebral oxygenation, oxygen saturation, heart rate (HR), and respiratory rate. Infants were monitored for 30 minutes prior to father reading, 10 minutes during and 30 minutes post reading.

RESULTS

A clinically significant increase in cerebral oxygenation was noted, based on near-infrared spectroscopy readings in response to the father's voice. Most infants had HR stabilization during the father's active reading time frame.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AND RESEARCH: NICU nurses and staff can encourage a father's engagement through speaking or reading to their infant. Nursing staff can promote verbal engagement between father-infant dyads by role modeling this behavior at the bedside. NICUs can provide books for families to further encourage exposure to father's voices. Further study of premature infants at earlier chronological and adjusted ages is needed.