Background The emotional state of parents of babies
with Down syndrome affects their babies’
development and their parent–child bonding. The
aim for this study was to conduct a pilot randomised
controlled evaluation of the effect of infant massage
on parents of babies with Down syndrome.
Methods This pilot study compared two groups
(intervention and control), each with 16 parents of
babies with Down syndrome. Indices of acceptance,
engagement and awareness of influence were
measured at two different time points (pre-test and
after 5 weeks) using the ‘This Is My Baby’ Interview.
The allocation of families to each group was
randomised. The experimental group performed
infant massage, applied by the parents, for 5 weeks,
every day for at least 10 min. The massage protocol
was based on the methodology created by Vimala
McClure. Parents in the control group received the
intervention after completion of the study.
Results The indices of acceptance, commitment and
awareness of influence improved in the experimental
group and in the control group. The 2 × 2
mixed-model analysis of variance indicates a
statistically significant group-by-time interaction for
all indices (P < 0.001), which was significantly higher
in the experimental group than in the control group.
Conclusions The application of infant massage, by
parents to their babies, improves the rates of
acceptance, commitment and awareness of influence
of parents of babies with Down syndrome in the
short term
