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Introduction: The family context plays a vital role in the child’s overall development and occupational participation. Occupational therapists can support the child’s participation by fostering positive parent-child interaction during family routines. Parents frequently struggle with managing challenging behaviors of children, leading to increased parental stress. The relationship between parental stress and child’s behavioral difficulties is bidirectional (Yorke et al., 2018), and may be mediated by the quality of the parent-child interaction (Sanner & Neece, 2018). Interventions aimed at parent-child interaction have been shown to improve positive parenting behaviors, decrease externalizing behaviors, and improve child compliance (Ward, Theule, & Cheung, 2016).This presentation evaluates the application of the Intentional Relationship Model (IRM; Taylor 2020) for promoting positive parent-child interaction in Early Intervention. Qualitative research findings and the theoretical application of the IRM are examined. Strengths and challenges of coaching parents on the IRM are discussed.Methods: The study was conducted using a phenomenological research design. Parents of children receiving Early Intervention were invited to participate in a five-week IRM workshop. Each participant completed three in-person and two online sessions, which included a video-based curriculum. The workshop design offered participants an opportunity to engage in individual and group reflection. Participants completed a series of reflection assignments that guided them through the IRM interpersonal reasoning process. The participants were asked to reflect upon 1) their child’s interpersonal characteristics, 2) challenging interpersonal events that they frequently experience during the everyday routine, and 3) their own use of the IRM communication modes (advocating, collaborating, empathizing, encouraging, instructing, and problem-solving). After the course, the participants completed a one-month follow-up interview with the first author. Interviews were transcribed verbatim in preparation for analysis. Reflection assignments and interviews were thematically analyzed and coded. The codes were categorized based on emergent themes. Results: Six parents completed the course. Although the participants reported feeling overwhelmed by the theoretical language of the model, they reported the immediate application of the concepts and strategies covered in the course. All participants experienced themselves as ineffective in responding to their child’s: 1) resistance toward adult-directed activities, and 2) expression of strong emotion (screaming, crying, hitting). All participants described their children as showing limited: 1) ability to respond to change and challenge, 2) capacity to assert needs, and 3) capacity to receive feedback. Three themes emerged from the analysis: 1) growth in mindful empathy, 2) growth in interpersonal flexibility, and 3) increased awareness of ineffective communication. Participants described the benefits of being able to cope with challenging behavior by remaining mindful and empathic about their child’s experience. The participants described a tendency to get “stuck” in the instructing mode, and felt increased capacity to shift toward empathizing and collaborating modes at the end of the course. Lastly, the participants described being more aware of instances where they were not effective in responding to their child’s behavior due to a mismatch in their communication mode and the child’s needs.Conclusion: Occupational therapists can coach parents on the interpersonal reasoning process to support the parent’s maximal capacity to utilize therapeutic communication modes while responding to challenging interpersonal events with their child.
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