Maternal Heartbeat Sounds and Therapeutic Touch on Heart Rate,Comfort and Behavior in Newborns

This parallel, randomized controlled trial will be conducted in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a regional hospital. The sample will consist of 120 neonates with gestational ages of 32 to ≤40 weeks and randomly assigned to four groups (maternal heart sound, therapeutic touch, maternal heart sound + therapeutic touch, and control group). The data of the study are the Newborn Information Form, the Anderson Behavioral Status Scoring System, and Newborn Comfort Behavior Scale. Demographic data will be compared between groups (maternal heartbeat sound group (Group 1), light human touch group (Group 2), combined maternal heartbeat sound and light human touch group (Group 3), and control group (Group 4)). Video recordings will be used to compare heart rate, behavioral status, and comfort scale scores obtained before, during, and after the interventions. The time it takes to fall asleep will also be evaluated. A t-test will be applied to evaluate the score differences between groups.