Mothers' Depressed Mood and Anxiety Levels Are Reduced After Massaging Their Preterm Infants

Author(s)

Larissa Feijo, Touch Research Institutes
Maria Hernandez-Reif, Touch Research Institutes
Tiffany Field, Touch Research Institutes
William Burns, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Sarah A. Valley-Gray, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Edward Simco, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2006

Publication Title

Infant Behavior and Development

Volume

29

Issue/Number

3

First Page

476

ISSN

0163-6383

Last Page

480

Abstract/Excerpt

Forty mothers whose preterm infants were about to be discharged from the Neonatal Intermediate Care Nursery (NICU) were randomly assigned to two groups: the first group of mothers conducted preterm infant massage and the second group only observed their preterm infants receiving massage. Both groups of mothers had lower depressed mood scores following the session. However, only the group who massaged their infants had lower anxiety scores after the session.

DOI

10.1016/j.infbeh.2006.02.003

NSUWorks Citation

Feijo, L., Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Burns, W., Valley-Gray, S. A., Simco, E. (2006). Mothers' Depressed Mood and Anxiety Levels Are Reduced After Massaging Their Preterm Infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 29(3), 476-480.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/623