INTERACT:Intensive Interaction for children and young people with PMLD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Intensive Interaction for children and young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities: The INTERACT Trial
IRAS ID
326756
Contact name
Jill Bradshaw
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Kent
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN81099965
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
326756, IRAS ID; 55609, CPMS
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 3 months, 30 days
Research summary
Children/young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) struggle to communicate their needs and wants to those caring for them and to participate in social activities. This study is looking at Intensive Interaction, an intervention to support communication skills in children/young people with PMLD. Some research suggests that Intensive Interaction can benefit individuals with PMLD, though further research is needed to understand its use in educational settings with children/young people, which is the purpose of the present study. We will recruit approximately 66 Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) educational settings or mainstream educational settings with SEND units across Great Britain which meet our eligibility criteria, including 330 children/young people in total. Half of the settings will be randomly assigned to the intervention group (receiving training in and delivering Intensive Interaction) and half to the control group (continue with care as usual). The study will take 52 months to complete. Recruitment will be completed in three phases, across three years, and each child/young person will be followed up over 52 weeks. Parents/carers and teachers will be asked to complete questionnaires (via an online platform or telephone, depending on their preference) upon entering the study, at 32 and 52 weeks after randomisation. At each of the three time points, educational settings will provide a video of each child/young person interacting with their teacher and their communication will be coded by trained researchers to obtain the primary outcome. As part of our process evaluation, to obtain more information about intervention delivery, implementation, and acceptance, intervention session record logs will be completed by each child/young person’s parent/carer and educational setting staff. Parents/carers and educational practitioners will also be interviewed to discuss their experience. This research is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/LO/0415
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jun 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion