Care PartIES

Parental Involvement in Neonatal Research

Infants who are born premature often require intensive medical care. Various healthcare professionals, including doctors and nurses, are involved in their care. Parents or caregivers also play an immensely important role in this context. They care for their babies, soothe them, practice kangaroo care, and are irreplaceable for their well-being. For the hospital staff, parents are crucial partners when making decisions regarding patient care.

Despite their frequent presence in neonatal units, parents are rarely directly involved in neonatal research. The Care PartIES project aims to actively incorporate the parental perspective in all phases of neonatal research. Together with parents, we will develop research questions and clinical outcomes that are relevant from their point of view. Additionally, we explore how parents can practically be included in neonatal research and the necessary prerequisites for their involvement.

As part of this project, we collaborate with the citizen organization Frühchen Schweiz (Premature Baby Switzerland). The project is supported by Citizen Science Zurich. We will conduct parent workshops (PDF, 201 KB) within the project. If you’re interested in the project or the workshops, feel free to contact us:

Contact project lead: Marie-Therese Schultes