Teaching Intensive Interaction to Paid Carers: Using the "Communities of Practice" Model to Inform Training.

Accessible summary This research project is about Intensive Interaction. Intensive Interaction is a way of communicating with people who have severe and profound learning disabilities and can be used with people who do not communicate with words. We asked three paid carers that trained in Intensive Interaction about their experience and how training had changed their work with people with learning disabilities. This research project matters to people with learning disabilities because it tries to find out the best way to train people to do this work. This could help make services better for everyone. Summary The engagement of people with learning disabilities in social communication is crucial to the development of relationships with others, a sense of social inclusion and self-worth. Intensive Interaction is an approach that can help carers develop their skills to engage people with severe and profound learning disabilities in personally relevant communication. Carers learn techniques by attending workshops offered by health and social care professionals, and this study seeks to explore the impact of one such training programme. This study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore the lived experience of Intensive Interaction training and practice of three paid carers who worked with people with learning disabilities. Three superordinate themes emerged from the analysis: ‘Investment’, ‘Outcomes’ and ‘Challenges’. Results suggest that participants had an overwhelmingly positive experience in learning and using Intensive Interaction and that coaching, supervision and support were vital. The clinical and practical implications for this are discussed.