10/06/2026
Fabiana Bacchini and Dr. Marsha Campbell-Yeo spent last week in Turku, Finland, connecting with parents, researchers and clinicians from around the world.
The week started with the POP research meeting, where the group continues to discuss parent-led neonatal pain management in the NICU and how we can move forward and challenge how parents are involved. Led by Emma Olsson and Mats Eriksson, the growing group now has representation from Finland, Sweden, Canada, Ukraine and France.
Then came the SCENE Symposium — two days of conversations about family engagement in the care of babies.
Fabiana and Marsha had the opportunity to share some of the work CPBF is doing to bring parents meaningfully into research.
For Fabiana, the experience also highlighted how much further we still need to go:
“Family engagement cannot be a ‘nice thing to do.’ It is a must that is evidence-based. If we truly believe that parents are an essential part of their baby’s care, then we need to build systems around that belief.
In Turku, that means zero separation. Parents move in. Parents are fully integrated into the care team. If they can do it, why can’t we?
The same thinking needs to extend to research. Parents should not simply be invited to participate. They should be involved in shaping the questions, the priorities, the research and how the findings are brought back to families and care.
We need to move from engaging families to designing care and research where families are inherently part of it.”
We are also incredibly proud to have Marsha representing Canada in these international conversations. A globally recognized leader in neonatal research, infant pain and family-integrated care, Marsha’s work and expertise are recognized around the world and we are honoured to have her here in Canada and as part of the CPBF community.
