This study was designed to investigate the effects of factile-kinesthetic stimulation on the weight gain, the performance on the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS), and the length of hospital stay of preterm infants. Twenty preterm infants in a neonatal intensive care unit were divided equally into treatment and control groups. Tactile-kinesthetic stimulation was provided to the infants in the treatment group for three 15-minute periods per day for 10 days. At the end of the treatment period, the analyses revealed that the weight gains and the performance on the NBAS of the intervention group significantly increased in comparison with the weight gains and NBAS performance of the comparison group. No significant difference was found between the treatment and control groups on length of hospital stay.
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