A Descriptive Study of the Use of Music During Naptime in Louisiana Child Care Centers

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to describe the use of recorded music in child care centers during naptime. Using a cross-sectional survey design, administrators and teachers from 62 child care centers in Louisiana responded to an online questionnaire designed to gather information about children’s sleep habits and teacher perceptions of music surrounding naptime at child care centers. Questionnaire items were grouped into the following sections: (1) teacher demographics, (2) classroom demographics, (3) use of music during naptime, (4) perceptions about efficacy of using music during naptime, and (5) selection criteria for music to be used during naptime. Results corroborated previous research regarding the necessity of and healthy benefits associated with naptime and music’s effectiveness in this regard. Overall, child care centers have similar naptime routines, and most students take more than 30 minutes to fall asleep. The music is typically provided by the child care center, and most teachers prefer to use the same music each day. The use of religious music is very common throughout the state, although classical-instrumental music is the most widely played genre. Teachers perceived that music’s soothing effect is the most important aspect when choosing music for naptime.

KEYWORDS:

• Child care
• child care services
• music
• napping
• questionnaires

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.