A music and movement program that incorporated vocal, gestural and rhythmical movement activities was devised with the aim of promoting first-time mothers’ interactions with their infants from the age 2 to 6 months. For first-time mothers as primary caregivers, the early post-partum months of the transition to parenthood can be a stressful period, affecting communicative interactions with their infants and the early development of the dyadic relationship. Furthermore, if mothers are lacking a repertoire of activities that promote communicative interactions via the use of vocal, gestural and rhythmical movement activities the development of the mother-infant relationship may be inhibited.Considering factors that affect the early development of the mother in her role as primary caregiver and the developing relationship with her infant, the investigation of two studies are reported. Study 1 was aimed at investigating the effects music and movement and face-to-face social contact on the frequency of mothers’ interactions with their infants and maternal well-being. Face-to-face social contact was investigated as a factor (both independent of music and movement, and its interaction effect with music and movement) that could influence mothers’ communicative interactions with their infants and maternal well-being. Study 2 investigated behavioural outcomes within the mother-infant relationship in response to the communicative effects of music and movement as measured by change in the characteristics of mothers’ Infant-Directed Speech and dyadic reciprocity Results indicated that up-tempo play songs and rhymes which incorporated rhythmical movement were preferred by the mothers to engage with their infants. As an effect of the their use of the music and movement activities, mothers’ interactions with their infants increased together with their perceived mother-to-infant attachment, characteristics associated with their Infant-Directed Speech and the dyadic reciprocity. Without music and movement, mothers decreased their music and movement interactions with their infants together with their perceived mother-to infant attachment, characteristics associated with their Infant-Directed Speech and the dyadic reciprocity. It was concluded that mothers’ use of the music and movement program with their infants in the early post-partum months was a valuable stimulus that can enhance the mother-infant relationship. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/204280 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Vlismas, Wendy, University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, MARCS Auditory Laboratories |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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