Maternal Moments
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Maternal Moments: Investigating music listening for well-being in pregnancy
IRAS ID
220143
Contact name
Katherine Rose Sanfilippo
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Goldsmiths, University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The proposed study will investigate whether listening to specially composed songs helps reduce anxiety and depression in pregnant women. It has been found that antenatal anxiety and depression affects 10% of mothers and has potential long term consequences for the fetus and future child. This leads to a need to find methods that are widely available, inexpensive and non-stigmatizing that can be used easily by women to help cope with anxiety and depression during pregnancy. Music is a multi-sensory activity and has been shown to help with anxiety and depression in many different groups of people. A previous small pilot study found that listening to the same specifically composed songs, for just 20 minutes a day, reduced anxiety and depression in a community recruited sample. The current study builds upon this study through the recruitment of women diagnosed with depression and or anxiety as a way to investigate on a larger scale this as a possible intervention within a clinical group. By recruiting women from Whittington Hospital who are suffering from anxiety and depression, we will investigate, using questionnaires and biological samples, the effect music listening, compared to the treatment the women receive as usual, has on maternal antenatal and postnatal well-being. Based on previous research we are also interested in exploring the antenatal music listening intervention's potential sub-sequential effects on infant cognitive and behavioral development by using questionnaires, observational scales and infant biological samples.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/LO/0118
Date of REC Opinion
21 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion