Nonverbal Emotions While Disclosing Child Abuse: The Role of Interviewer Support

Statements by alleged victims are important when child abuse is prosecuted; triers-of-fact often attend to nonverbal emotional expressions when evaluating those statements. This study examined the associations among interviewer supportiveness, children’s nonverbal emotions, and informativeness during 100 forensic interviews with alleged victims of child abuse. Raters coded the silent videotapes for children’s nonverbal emotional expressions while other raters coded the transcripts for interviewer support, children’s verbal emotions, and informativeness. Results showed that children’s nonverbal signals were more common than and preceded the verbal signs. Interviewer support was associated with children’s expressivity. When children expressed more nonverbal emotions, they were more responsive during the pre-substantive phases and more informative about the abuse. Nonverbal emotions partially mediated the association between support and informativeness. The findings underline the value of nonverbal emotional expression during forensic interviews and demonstrate how the interviewers’ supportive demeanor can facilitate children’s emotional displays and increase informativeness.

Drawing, Play-Dough, and Koosh Balls: The Use of Comfort Tools with Children in Forensic and Clinical Interviews

<p>During forensic and clinical interviews, children are often required to discuss difficult topics that may elicit feelings of shame, embarrassment, or reluctance. It is the clinician’s or forensic interviewer’s task to obtain detailed and accurate reports from these children, with many employing the use of comfort tools (e.g. drawing, play-dough, koosh balls) to put children at ease (Hill & Brown, 2017; Poole & Dickinson, 2014). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether three commonly used comfort tools influence children’s reports of a self-selected, emotionally laden event. Ninety-two children aged between 5 and 7 years old were asked to discuss a time when they got into trouble, and a time when they were happy. Some children were questioned without any comfort tools; the remainder were given one of the following: drawing materials, play-dough, or a koosh ball to interact with during the interview. Comfort tools had no impact on the amount of information reported by children. They also had no influence on whether children provided more episodic information (which may be especially relevant in forensic interviews), or evaluative information (which may be more relevant in clinical contexts). Providing comfort tools did not influence children’s ratings of either their interview experience, or the emotional intensity of the events they described. The interviewer asked more questions of children interviewed with drawing materials than those interviewed without comfort tools. The findings raise questions about the efficacy of comfort tools in interviews with children about past events, although more research is needed to establish an evidence-base to guide practitioners in different settings.</p>

Drawing, Play-Dough, and Koosh Balls: The Use of Comfort Tools with Children in Forensic and Clinical Interviews

<p>During forensic and clinical interviews, children are often required to discuss difficult topics that may elicit feelings of shame, embarrassment, or reluctance. It is the clinician’s or forensic interviewer’s task to obtain detailed and accurate reports from these children, with many employing the use of comfort tools (e.g. drawing, play-dough, koosh balls) to put children at ease (Hill & Brown, 2017; Poole & Dickinson, 2014). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether three commonly used comfort tools influence children’s reports of a self-selected, emotionally laden event. Ninety-two children aged between 5 and 7 years old were asked to discuss a time when they got into trouble, and a time when they were happy. Some children were questioned without any comfort tools; the remainder were given one of the following: drawing materials, play-dough, or a koosh ball to interact with during the interview. Comfort tools had no impact on the amount of information reported by children. They also had no influence on whether children provided more episodic information (which may be especially relevant in forensic interviews), or evaluative information (which may be more relevant in clinical contexts). Providing comfort tools did not influence children’s ratings of either their interview experience, or the emotional intensity of the events they described. The interviewer asked more questions of children interviewed with drawing materials than those interviewed without comfort tools. The findings raise questions about the efficacy of comfort tools in interviews with children about past events, although more research is needed to establish an evidence-base to guide practitioners in different settings.</p>

Understanding and addressing challenges faced by forensic interviewers in their work with children

<p>Questioning techniques in forensic interviews make a critical contribution to the amount and quality of children’s testimony (Lamb, La Rooy, Malloy, & Katz, 2011). Best practice recommendations advise that interviewers ask predominantly broad open-ended prompts (invitations and cued-invitations), minimise focused (direct) and closed-ended (option-posing) prompts, and avoid suggestive questions (Orbach & Pipe, 2011). Deviation from these recommendations is common, and deterioration in interviewing practice over time is typical unless interviewers received regular practice focused supervision and feedback (Lamb, Sternberg, Orbach, Esplin, & Mitchell, 2002). However, interviewers’ access to supervision is often limited (La Rooy, Lamb, & Memon, 2011). Guided self-review may be an effective method to complement traditional face-to-face supervision. This thesis examined: 1) forensic interviewing practice with children in New Zealand, 2) factors that influenced practice, 3) forensic interviewers’ perceptions of supervision, and 4) the effectiveness of a self-review tool designed to increase the use of invitations and cued-invitations. The first study was divided into two parts (Study 1a and Study 1b). In Study 1a, we evaluated the extent to which forensic interviewers in New Zealand adhered to best-practice recommendations, and examined factors (child, interviewer, allegation characteristics) that influenced practice. We examined 93 interviews with children (6-16 years old) about sexual abuse allegations that were conducted by 27 interviewers. Interviewers utilised more direct (57%), and option-posing prompts (20%), and fewer invitations and cued-invitations (22% combined) than stipulated by best practice recommendations, although very few suggestive questions were posed. A number of child, interviewer and allegation characteristics influenced questioning techniques. In Study 1b, we examined whether limited use of invitations and cued-invitations (in a larger sample of 103 interviews) was associated with decreased responsiveness from children, and failure to follow recommended practice of using such questions following any direct or option-posing questions (termed pairing). Although invitations were more likely to elicit responses (83%) than non-responses (17%) from children, non-responding was more highly associated with this type of prompt than expected by chance. Furthermore, interviewers did not adhere to the pairing principle, even though this practice was positively associated with higher proportion of invitations and cued-invitations. In the second study, we surveyed 39 forensic interviewers about their engagement in, and beliefs about supervision. Two-thirds of the interviewers indicated that they engage in practice-focused supervision. Out of these interviewers, over half (57.7%) received supervision regularly and were satisfied with the content of their supervision, and approximately half (53.9%) were satisfied with their supervision opportunities. Nonetheless, interviewers varied in terms of how satisfying they found their access to, and the content of supervision. Finally, a number of individual and organisational barriers (e.g., financial, time constraint and limited availability of supervisors) to accessing face-to-face supervision were identified. In the final study, we explored the impact of a self-review tool specifically designed to increase invitations and cued-invitations and adherence to the pairing principle. This pilot study used an AB design (baseline vs. intervention) with six interviewers (n=54 interviews with 4-16 year old children for alleged physical or sexual abuse). Interviews conducted during the self-review phase had a significantly higher proportion of invitations, and a lower proportion of direct prompts, and higher adherence to the pairing principle than interviews at baseline. Overall, our evaluation of forensic interviewing practice with children in New Zealand has highlighted areas of strengths as well as areas for improvement. In particular, consistent with international evaluations, an increase in the use of invitations and cued-invitations is recommended, and our results suggest that one way this may be achieved is by a greater focus in training and practice on the use of the pairing principle. Undoubtedly, forensic interviewing is a challenging task that requires highly specialised skills. Without regular supervision and feedback, it is difficult to maintain consistent and high standards of interviewing. Given the challenges that may limit forensic interviewers’ access to regular feedback and supervision, guided self-review may offer an accessible and low-cost complementary method to improve the conduct of forensic interviews with children. Better quality interviews increase the chance of investigations progressing when maltreatment has occurred, thereby protecting vulnerable children from further abuse, and innocent adults from the consequences of false allegations.</p>

Understanding and addressing challenges faced by forensic interviewers in their work with children

<p>Questioning techniques in forensic interviews make a critical contribution to the amount and quality of children’s testimony (Lamb, La Rooy, Malloy, & Katz, 2011). Best practice recommendations advise that interviewers ask predominantly broad open-ended prompts (invitations and cued-invitations), minimise focused (direct) and closed-ended (option-posing) prompts, and avoid suggestive questions (Orbach & Pipe, 2011). Deviation from these recommendations is common, and deterioration in interviewing practice over time is typical unless interviewers received regular practice focused supervision and feedback (Lamb, Sternberg, Orbach, Esplin, & Mitchell, 2002). However, interviewers’ access to supervision is often limited (La Rooy, Lamb, & Memon, 2011). Guided self-review may be an effective method to complement traditional face-to-face supervision. This thesis examined: 1) forensic interviewing practice with children in New Zealand, 2) factors that influenced practice, 3) forensic interviewers’ perceptions of supervision, and 4) the effectiveness of a self-review tool designed to increase the use of invitations and cued-invitations. The first study was divided into two parts (Study 1a and Study 1b). In Study 1a, we evaluated the extent to which forensic interviewers in New Zealand adhered to best-practice recommendations, and examined factors (child, interviewer, allegation characteristics) that influenced practice. We examined 93 interviews with children (6-16 years old) about sexual abuse allegations that were conducted by 27 interviewers. Interviewers utilised more direct (57%), and option-posing prompts (20%), and fewer invitations and cued-invitations (22% combined) than stipulated by best practice recommendations, although very few suggestive questions were posed. A number of child, interviewer and allegation characteristics influenced questioning techniques. In Study 1b, we examined whether limited use of invitations and cued-invitations (in a larger sample of 103 interviews) was associated with decreased responsiveness from children, and failure to follow recommended practice of using such questions following any direct or option-posing questions (termed pairing). Although invitations were more likely to elicit responses (83%) than non-responses (17%) from children, non-responding was more highly associated with this type of prompt than expected by chance. Furthermore, interviewers did not adhere to the pairing principle, even though this practice was positively associated with higher proportion of invitations and cued-invitations. In the second study, we surveyed 39 forensic interviewers about their engagement in, and beliefs about supervision. Two-thirds of the interviewers indicated that they engage in practice-focused supervision. Out of these interviewers, over half (57.7%) received supervision regularly and were satisfied with the content of their supervision, and approximately half (53.9%) were satisfied with their supervision opportunities. Nonetheless, interviewers varied in terms of how satisfying they found their access to, and the content of supervision. Finally, a number of individual and organisational barriers (e.g., financial, time constraint and limited availability of supervisors) to accessing face-to-face supervision were identified. In the final study, we explored the impact of a self-review tool specifically designed to increase invitations and cued-invitations and adherence to the pairing principle. This pilot study used an AB design (baseline vs. intervention) with six interviewers (n=54 interviews with 4-16 year old children for alleged physical or sexual abuse). Interviews conducted during the self-review phase had a significantly higher proportion of invitations, and a lower proportion of direct prompts, and higher adherence to the pairing principle than interviews at baseline. Overall, our evaluation of forensic interviewing practice with children in New Zealand has highlighted areas of strengths as well as areas for improvement. In particular, consistent with international evaluations, an increase in the use of invitations and cued-invitations is recommended, and our results suggest that one way this may be achieved is by a greater focus in training and practice on the use of the pairing principle. Undoubtedly, forensic interviewing is a challenging task that requires highly specialised skills. Without regular supervision and feedback, it is difficult to maintain consistent and high standards of interviewing. Given the challenges that may limit forensic interviewers’ access to regular feedback and supervision, guided self-review may offer an accessible and low-cost complementary method to improve the conduct of forensic interviews with children. Better quality interviews increase the chance of investigations progressing when maltreatment has occurred, thereby protecting vulnerable children from further abuse, and innocent adults from the consequences of false allegations.</p>

Trastorno psicótico delirante, consumo de tóxicos y asesinato con alevosía y ensañamiento

Se ilustra un caso de asesinato perpetrado por un sujeto afecto de esquizofrenia paranoide y, por cuyo momento de perpetrarse los hechos, presentaba una crisis psicótica aguda en ausencia de medicación antipsicótico por abandono del tratamiento. Se describe la fenomenología clínico-sintomatológica del perpetrador y del tipo de contenido de pensamiento psicótico-paranoide que mostraba al momento de celebrarse las entrevistas psicológicos-forenses. A case of murder perpetrated by a subject affected by paranoid schizophrenia and, at the time of the perpetration, presenting an acute psychotic crisis in the absence of antipsychotic medication due to treatment abandonment, is illustrated. The clinical-symptomatological phenomenology of the perpetrator and the type of psychotic-paranoid thought content he showed at the time of the psychological-forensic interviews are described.

“It doesn’t work at all, that’s my experience”: Swedish forensic interviewers’ views on interpreter-mediated child interviews

Background: Legal practitioners have expressed concerns regarding the quality of interpreter-mediated forensic interviews with child witnesses.Objective: This mixed-methods study aimed to examine Swedish forensic interviewers’ experiences of conducting child interviews via a language interpreter. Participants and setting: Forty-one forensic interviewers from the Swedish Police Authority with experience conducting interpreter-mediated child interviews participated in a digital survey. Methods: Their responses were analyzed using both qualitative (thematic and content analyses) and quantitative (descriptive and inferential statistics) approaches. Results: The forensic interviewers’ general experiences of conducting interpreter-mediated child interviews were negative. Limited access to authorized legal interpreters and doubts regarding the accuracy of interpretation were described as major obstacles in these investigations. The presence of an interpreter could negatively impact children’s disclosure process and limit their chances of expressing their views during legal proceedings.Conclusions: According to Swedish forensic interviewers, the quality of interpreter-mediated child interviews urgently needs to be addressed. Our results are consistent with previous surveys from Australia and the United States, highlighting the international relevance of these topics. Future improvements are vital to ensure that all children are provided an equal right to be heard during criminal investigations, regardless of the native language.