Music and Child Health and Development

Children's Mercy Hospital Kansas City18 enrolled

Overview

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about the effects of a music enrichment program on the quality of parent child interactions, a child's motivation to eat, and a child's language environment in 9 to 24 month-old children from low-income families. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Does participation in a music enrichment program improve the quality of parent-child interactions? 2. Does participation in a music enrichment program reduce motivation for food 3. Does participation in a music enrichment program improve the quality of the language environment? Participants will: 1. Be randomly assigned to participate in either 2, 8-week semesters of weekly music enrichment classes or play group sessions. 2. At the beginning, after the first 8 weeks and after the second 8 weeks, a researcher will come to the participants house and parent-child pairs will: 1. be video recorded during 10 minutes of playtime and meal time. 2. fill out questionnaires 3. wear a small wearable language recorder for 16 hours 3. At the beginning, after the first 8 weeks and after the second 8 weeks, the parent and child will come to the baby lab and will: 1. Play a computer game to test motivation for food 2. have height and weight measurements collected Researchers will compare the music and play groups to see if there is a difference in the quality of parent child interaction, food motivation or language environment.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Obesity, Infant

Interventions

Music TogetherBEHAVIORAL

The intervention consists of 45-minute weekly classes for 16 weeks. Each class is delivered by a trained Music Together facilitator and includes music activities such as singing, dancing, moving and playing musical instruments. At the start of the program, participants receive materials for home use that consist of a song book and online access code for song recordings used in the class.

Play GroupBEHAVIORAL

The play group consists of 45-minute weekly classes for 16 weeks. During each class parents are encouraged to play with their child and interact with other participants using the provided age appropriate toys. At the start of the program participants receive an age appropriate toy for use at home.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 9 MonthsMax age: 24 MonthsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Family income meets criteria for the National Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program * Family is able and willing to commit to a 6-month program Exclusion Criteria: * Mother \<18 years old at the time of delivery * During pregnancy: * Mother smoked \>10 cigarettes/day * Mother used \>1 marijuana joint/day * Mother used any other illicit drugs * Mother drank \> 3 standard drinks on a single occasion or \>1 standard drink on a daily basis * Preterm birth \<37 weeks gestation * Child with significant health issues, and/or genetic conditions (e.g., cerebral palsy, down's syndrome) * Mother with major health concerns during pregnancy (e.g., gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, etc) * Parent/child who do not speak English

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Relative Reinforcing Value of Food (RRV) Task

RRVfood is a proximal measure of obesity risk. It measures how motivated one is to work to gain access to food versus non-food activity. RRVfood is the score for food divided by the total score (food + music). Scale range is 0-1. Lower number is the better outcome. The score for food is determined by a computer game to test motivation for food. The score for music is determined by a computer game to test motivation for music.

Time frame: Baseline, Mid (8 weeks), Post (16 weeks)

Use of Music at Home

The Music @ Home Questionnaire was used to quantitatively assess the range of musical behaviors occurring in the home environment of families with young children. Participant score is based on a questionnaire with 18 questions each with a range of 1-7. Total score range of the questionnaire is 7- 126. The higher outcome is better.

Time frame: Baseline and Post (16 weeks)

Conversational Turns

Back-and-forth vocalizations between a parent and child, even with pre-linguistic children, are considered a pivotal component of a high-quality early language environment because they associate with growth in specific brain regions responsible for language and cognitive development.