Effect of Multisensory Stimulation on the Physical Growth of Premature Infants

Abstract

Introduction: Height and head circumference is one of the criteria for physical health of preterm infants and indicates their neuromuscular development. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of multisensory stimulation on height and head circumference of preterm infants. Methods: The present study was a clinical trial study; which was performed on premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at Shahid Motahari Hospital in Jahrom City, Iran, in 2016. Initially, 80 infants with a gestational age of 32 to 36 weeks were randomly divided into two groups of multisensory stimulation and control. The intervention method in this study was that the intervention group had a multisensory stimulation program (auditory stimulation, tactile stimulation, visual stimulation and vestibular stimulation) by mothers for 12 minutes per day and 5 times a week until discharge and in the control group they only received the usual care ward. The height and head circumference were measured by the researcher with a meter until the day the infant was discharged from the ward. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups of preterm infants in terms of fetal age, birth weight and sex. Based on the comparison between groups, a significant difference was observed in the two groups in terms of height and head circumference (P <0.001). Conclusion: The findings of this study show that multisensory stimulation affects the physical development of premature infants.

Keywords

• multisensory stimulation
• physical growth
• premature infant.