Mothers’ experience of Intensive Interaction

There is limited research into parents’ experiences of Intensive Interaction. Despite this, there are parents who use it and may hold unique experiences. Exploring this could provide insight into how to support parents using Intensive Interaction. Six mothers, who used Intensive Interaction with their children with intellectual disabilities and/or autism, were interviewed. Results were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The analysis yielded 10 subordinate themes which were organised into 4 superordinate themes: ‘The Connection’, ‘Bittersweet’, ‘Fighting for Support’ and ‘Challenging Underlying Low Expectations & Stigma’. Intensive Interaction was found to help some mothers feel connected with their child; they appeared to indicate that accessing timely support with Intensive Interaction was beneficial. Intensive Interaction was also perceived to challenge assumptions and stigma, but these factors were also perceived to be potential barriers to using the approach