How Mothers of Autistic Children Experience Intensive Interaction: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

Intensive Interaction (II) is a communication strategy used to promote social interaction and develop early communication skills in people with learning difficulties, some of whom are also autistic. Mothers are using II in their homes with their children often under the direction of a professional but to date their experiences are only minimally represented within the research literature. It is important that we know how mothers experience II before we can effectively support them through policy and practice. This research also feeds into the wider social communication interventions and disability arena where the dominant narrative is what a valuable resource parents are once trained. However, most studies including parents, evaluate only their effectiveness in delivering an intervention, few studies report on the experiential aspects of running an intervention in the home. This study employed Interpretive Phenomenology Analysis (IPA). IPA examines how people make sense of important life experiences and situates the participants as the primary experts of their own experience. This study considered reasons for engagement with II and sought to understand how II use affected how the mothers’ experienced relationships with their children. It also explored what engagement with II brought the mothers in terms of personal growth and empowerment. Seven mothers were interviewed, and two superordinate themes emerged: seeking, finding and learning, and connecting. The mothers’ experiences reveal some similarities with the wider II literature around increased understanding of social communication and enhanced connections with their child. However, the mothers also experience complex emotions bound up with identity, sense of self and the child-led element of II. From these findings recommendations for good practice in supporting mothers using II are discussed.