Supporting attunement in the parent-child relationship through dance movement therapy: A pilot study on furthering the global development of neonatal intensive care unit graduate patients in India

Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is at a nascent stage in India and is not a service accessible in the perinatal and paediatric Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). DMT can provide interventions to meet an individual’s personal, physical, emotional, biological, neurodevelopmental, and interpersonal needs. This study proposes that all families and infants could benefit from the supportive intervention DMT provides to the parent-child dyad. Care in a NICU only concerns itself with the physical milestones of the child and does not acknowledge the mental and emotional condition of the child. Each child who has stayed in the NICU has experienced separation from the mother (their primary caregiver). Most doctors, nurses, and other caregivers focus on infant irritability, poor sleep, feeding, or pain.