Purpose
– Following the development of the post of Trust Intensive Interaction Co-ordinator, it was decided to assess the state of provision of Intensive Interaction within the social care provision of an NHS Trust in the South of England. The purpose of this paper is to: map strengths and weaknesses of current provision; identify successful provision; identify obstacles to successful provision or factors associated with the maintenance of provision throughout the organisation.
Design/methodology/approach
– Feedback after training sessions offered by the Trust Intensive Interaction Co-ordinator was reviewed; data about teams supporting people needing Intensive Interaction was analysed to ensure the recommended number of people within a team had received training; opinions of managers and support workers on the provision of Intensive Interaction were gathered.
Findings
– In total, 96 per cent of Trust employees thought training was right for them; 81 per cent of house teams/services had at least three staff and a manager who had received Intensive Interaction training; three areas of concern were identified from the opinions of managers and support workers: discussion of Intensive Interaction in supervision; responsibility for Intensive Interaction happening; and sharing knowledge of successful Intensive Interaction with those connected to the service user.
Originality/value
– This is one of the first published audits of an Intensive Interaction service. For the Trust, it provides a baseline to allow monitoring of the maintenance of current levels of service provision over time and, following action taken to address areas of concern, whether future provision has been improved.
Background
People with a learning disability can present with complex physical and social needs, and sometimes rely on touch for communication. Historically, touch‐related staff guidance has been described as risk‐averse, lacking an evidence base, control‐orientated and potentially harmful. This project reviews local touch‐related guidance from adult learning disability services, exploring the extent to which they consider the social and communication needs of service users.
Methods
Five touch‐related guidance documents were analysed using a summative content analysis. Counts of relevant search terms were analysed quantitatively. Extracts containing the search terms were then analysed qualitatively, to explore their context.
Findings
Considerable variation was noted between the guidance documents. All the documents discuss communication within the context of touch, although to varying extents. The analysis highlighted a focus on safety and risk within most documents, however, some documents also demonstrated encouragement of positive risk management and the safe use of touch.
Conclusions
While this study has identified several positive aspects of the guidance documents, these helpful recommendations and arguments appear inconsistently within individual documents. Services should work towards developing guidance that consistently considers practical steps to reduce risk and facilitate the safe and effective use of expressive touch cross‐service. Further research into current practice relating to expressive touch is indicated.
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