Elizabeth McLean


Exploring parents’ musical engagement with their baby and parental identity across the Neonatal Unit journey. This study follows on from a previous qualitative inquiry conducted by the student researcher, exploring parents’ experiences and perceptions of singing and using their voice with their baby in a NU through interpretative phenomenology. Results illuminated singing and voice interactions leading to the validation of a parent’s identity through their baby’s perceived recognition of their unique voice (McLean, under review). This second study expands on these initial findings to explore the notion of parental identity and its potential connection with a parent’s engagement in musical exchanges with their baby in a NU which is currently underrepresented both within neonatal music therapy research and further afield. This is a multi- site study, taking place at Monash Health, Monash Newborn in Melbourne in which the student researcher works as a RMT across two NU’s.