Kai Ling Kong, PhD, MS
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine; Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kansas School of Medicine
Full Biography
Kai Ling Kong, PhD, MS, Health Services and Outcomes Research, received an $85,000 Research Grants in the Arts – FY2025 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The funding is for her project titled “Do-Re-Me-Family: Music-based parenting intervention to improve quality of parent-infant interaction among families from low socioeconomic status” and covers a project period of Jan. 1, 2025-Dec. 31, 2026.
The funding is to support a randomized-controlled feasibility study to test a music-based program for parents and children from low-income families in the U.S., looking at how it affects behavior, language, and physical health. It is being done in collaboration with the Community Health Council of Wyandotte County (CHC).
During the study, Dr. Kong and her team will assign healthy infants and their parents to either the intervention group or a wait-list control group. The intervention group will receive a ten-week music-based parenting program facilitated by board-certified music therapists. The team will conduct behavioral observations, speech content and behavior, and health assessments at the beginning and end of the study.
Dr. Kong and her study team will document the following:
- The quality of parent-infant interactions (i.e., responsiveness, warmth/sensitivity, positive or negative affect)
- Physical growth of the infant
- The use and quality of home language within parent-infant interactions.
“Our music program, ‘Do-Re-Me-Family’ is a fun and engaging music program that helps parents bond with their babies. Designed for families with fewer resources, the program uses music and play to support healthy growth, early learning, and strong parent-child connections,” said Dr. Kong.
Helena Laroche, MD, Center for Children's Healthy Lifestyles and Nutrition, Mariah Chrans, IBCLC, PhD, Program Director of Cradle Kansas City, Kate Williams, PhD, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, and Amy Smith, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, serve as a co-investigators on the study.