A Systematic Review of Instruments used to Assess Nonverbal Emotional Signs in Children during an Investigative Interview for Suspected Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Sexually abused young people often display few or no physical symptoms, and delay of verbal disclosure is common. Based on previous research, we assume that sexually abused children and adolescents may display nonverbal emotional signs, which can be assessed during an investigative interview for suspected child sexual abuse (CSA). We aim to present an overview of reported instruments for the assessment of children's and adolescents' nonverbal emotional signs by medical, psychological and forensic professionals during an investigative interview for suspected CSA. Structured search strategies were developed for MEDLINE (OvidSP), Embase (OvidSP) and PsychINFO (OvidSP). Two reviewers independently performed study selection and data extraction. The search yielded 6711 studies, of which nine were included. All included studies had different study aims and reported a variety of purposes for the assessment of nonverbal emotional signs. Eight different, newly developed instruments were used. Although all studies reported the measurement properties of the instruments, insufficient information was provided for analysis of their reliability and validity. This indicates the need for one reliable, validated instrument for the assessment of nonverbal emotional signs. Standardised, generally approved methods to collect uniform and comparable information during the investigative interview for suspected CSA are essential to enhance the knowledge base in this field. Key Practitioner Messages The evidence base in the field of suspected CSA would be improved if professionals worldwide used standardised and generally approved methods for the collection of uniform, comparable information. Further research is required to explore the additional value of the assessment of nonverbal emotional signs in children and adolescents during the investigative interview for suspected CSA. To warrant the sustainable and harmonised collection of relevant nonverbal emotional signs, a valid and reliable assessment instrument needs to be developed.

Driving Improvements in Child Protection and Safeguarding Practice

“…They argue that this is essential to develop the evidence base in the field of suspected CSA. They state that because of the lack of current scientific evidence on this issue, medical and psychological professionals and those working in the courts ‘must be careful about drawing any conclusions that are (partly) based on children's and adolescents' nonverbal emotional signs’ (van Ham et al ., , p. 23).…”

“…Two systematic reviews in this issue examine different aspects of CSA. The first, by Kirsten van Ham and colleagues () from the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands, examines instruments used to assess nonverbal emotional signs in children during an investigative interview for suspected sexual abuse. The review included nine studies (seven originated from the USA) that focus on assessment, observation or a clinical analysis of ‘nonverbal emotional signs and symptoms in children and adolescents aged three to 17 years during an interview or conversation for the investigation of CSA, conducted by a medical, forensic or psychological professional’ (van Ham et al ., , p. 15).…”

“…van Ham et al . () found that the nine studies all reported different study aims and described eight different instruments to assess nonverbal emotional signs. The instruments were all developed independently and included the coding of videotapes from the original forensic investigative interviews.…”

“…A key finding of van Ham et al . 's () review was ‘the variability of the abuse verification status of the subjects in the included studies’ (p. 20), and an important recommendation is that in future research ‘the verdicts on whether or not CSA took place should be based on consensus by a multidisciplinary team of experts in the field of CSA, using a standard set of criteria’ (pp. 20‐22).…”

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

“…Although nonverbal signals clearly affect the assessment of children’s reports, few field studies have addressed this issue (van Ham et al, 2020). Most of the existing research has explored nonverbal behaviors associated with deceit, showing that most do not differentiate liars from truth-tellers (Hillman et al, 2012; Nortje & Tredoux, 2019; Vrij et al, 2019).…”