From Being on Our Own to Being Part of a Team: A Qualitative Study on Parents’ Experiences from a Structured Intervention to Increase School Attendance

Parental involvement is essential for addressing School Attendance Problems (SAPs), as parents play a key role in supporting their child’s return to regular attendance. This study explores parents’ experiences with a structured, manual-based intervention (Back2School; B2S), targeting youth SAPs. The interviews focused on parents’ perceptions of collaboration with the intervention providers, school staff, the child, and the co-parent. Qualitative interviews were conducted with parents of nine children with SAPs who had participated in a Norwegian B2S-feasibility study. The findings, derived through reflexive thematic analysis, were summarized in three themes: (1) being understood and acknowledged, (2) collaboration and commitment, and (3) structured plans and concrete actions. Parents experienced important changes during the B2S intervention. Collaboration with the B2S team made parents feel acknowledged and supported, due to the teams’ recognition of the SAPs complexity and appreciation of the parents’ prior efforts. Parents reported improved school collaboration during the intervention, characterized by mutual understanding of the SAPs, and greater school commitment. However, a few parents reported persistent challenges in home–school collaboration due to limited school resources, lack of mutual understanding of the SAPs, unresolved conflicts, and a perceived unsafe school environment. Parents valued the active involvement of the child throughout the intervention, as well as the tailored, cognitive behavioral step-by-step strategies to cope with the youth’s SAPs and psychosocial problems. Implications for future implementation and optimization of the intervention, as well as ways to involve parents in a collaborative approach to effectively address SAPs, are discussed.