Assessing the Effectiveness of a Training Program for Interviewing Child Witnesses

Warren, Amye R.; Woodall, Cara E.; Thomas, Marney; Nunno, Michael; Keeney, Jennifer M.; Larson, Susan; Stadfeld, Julie A.

doi:10.1207/s1532480xads0302_6

Cited by 106 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…To the distress of trainers and administrators, furthermore, such deviations from 'best practice' were evident even when the interviewers had been trained extensively, were well-aware of the recommended practices, and often believed that they were adhering to those recommendations! The latter findings were consistent with the results of studies showing that both intensive and brief training programs for investigative interviewers may impart knowledge about desirable practices but have little if any effect on the actual behavior of forensic investigators (Aldridge, 1992;Aldridge & Cameron, 1999;Freeman & Morris, 1999;Stevenson, Leung, & Cheung, 1992;Warren, Woodall, Thomas, Nunno, Keeney, Larson, & Stadfeld, 1999).…”

Section: The Background: Basic Research On Interviewing and Child Devsupporting

confidence: 87%

A structured forensic interview protocol improves the quality and informativeness of investigative interviews with children: A review of research using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol

Lamb

Orbach

Hershkowitz

et al. 2007

Child Abuse & Neglect

519

439

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Objective-To show how the results of research on children's memory, communicative skills, social knowledge, and social tendencies can be translated into guidelines that improve the quality of forensic interviews of children.Method-We review studies designed to evaluate children's capacities as witnesses, explain the development of the structured NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol, and discuss studies designed to assess whether use of the Protocol enhances the quality of investigative interviews.Results-Controlled studies have repeatedly shown that the quality of interviewing reliably and dramatically improves when interviewers employ the NICHD Protocol. No other technique has been proven to be similarly effective.Conclusions-Use of the structured NICHD Protocol improves the quality of information obtained from alleged victims by investigators, thereby increasing the likelihood that interventions will be appropriate. IntroductionWhereas Kempe and his colleagues (1962) helped launch scholarly interest in physical child abuse with their landmark paper nearly 50 years ago, professional (and popular) interest in child sexual abuse came much later. It was prompted in part by dramatic increases in the numbers of reported cases, and by awareness that many cases of abuse might go unrecognized Correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed to Michael E. Lamb, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RQ, UK. E-mail: mel37@cam.ac.uk. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptChild Abuse Negl. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2008 January 9. Published in final edited form as:Child Abuse Negl. 2007 ; 31(11-12): 1201-1231. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript because the victims were the only possible sources of information and were seldom given the appropriate opportunities to describe their experiences to those who might have been able to help them. Indeed, because alleged victims are often the only available sources of information, considerable efforts have been made to understand how children's testimony can be made as useful and accurate as possible. Since 1990, furthermore, highly publicized cases in the United States (California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Florida), Norway (Bergen), New Zealand (Christchurch), and the UK (Cleveland, Newcastle), among others, have drawn attention to the counterproductive ways in which alleged victims of sexual abuse are sometimes interviewed. In many such cases, inappr...

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Section: The Background: Basic Research On Interviewing and Child Devsupporting

confidence: 87%

A structured forensic interview protocol improves the quality and informativeness of investigative interviews with children: A review of research using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol

Lamb

Orbach

Hershkowitz

et al. 2007

Child Abuse & Neglect

519

439

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Several researchers in a variety of countries have also shown how difficult it is to effect lasting changes in interviewing skills through training (e.g. Sweden by Cederborg & Lamb, 2006;andIsrael by Lamb et al, 1996 and; the UK by Sternberg et al, 2001; the US by Warren et al, 1999). Even the most intensive training programs have little, if any, effect on the actual behaviour of interviewers in the field.…”

Section: Probing Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even the most intensive training programs have little, if any, effect on the actual behaviour of interviewers in the field. Brief intensive training sessions 1-5 days in length seem to enhance the trainees' knowledge of what they should do, but have little effect on what they actually do when interviewing alleged victims (Stevenson, Leung, & Cheung, 1992;Warren et al, 1999). That is, even when interviewers are taught information and they believe that their behaviour has changed, their interviewing practices nevertheless remain the same (see Powell et al, 2005 for a review).…”

Section: Probing Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Making the most of information‐gathering interviews with children

Larsson

Lamb

2008

Infant and Child Development

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Because child abuse victims are often the only available sources of information about their experiences, extensive efforts have been made to understand how to maximize their informativeness. There is now broad international consensus regarding optimal interview practices, and broad awareness that children's informativeness increases when interviewers conduct developmentally appropriate interviews with children. In this paper, we (1) summarize current understanding of how children remember, retrieve, and communicate information and (2) discuss ways in which children's memory and reporting can be fostered using techniques designed to help children recount past experiences such as the Cognitive Interview, the Narrative Elaboration Technique, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-Protocol. Communicative success clearly depends on how well children understand their role and how effectively interviewers take advantage of children's competencies and abilities to help them maximize their informativeness. Unfortunately, agreement regarding ways in which interviews should be conducted has not been paralleled by changes in the way interviews are actually conducted in the field and more attention thus needs to be paid to training and implementation. Copyright r 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Key words: interviews with children; child abuse victims; interviewing techniques Reliable information about experienced events can be obtained from children as young as 4 years of age provided interviewers converse with and question them carefully and appropriately, adapting their techniques to accommodate children's needs and capacities. This can be especially important when interviewing alleged child abuse victims because they are often the only sources of information about the crimes in question. This places the children in

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“…Despite widespread acceptance of international guidelines on how to interview child victims and witnesses of abuse, the majority of training programs result in few differences in interviewing practices before and after training (e.g., Lamb, Sternberg, Orbach, Hershkowitz, Horowitz, & Esplin, 2002;Warren, et al,1999). While training programs are effective in improving interviewers' knowledge of child development and the recommended techniques (e.g.,…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Spaced Learning Principles to Translate Knowledge into Behavior: Evidence from Investigative Interviews of Alleged Child Abuse Victims

Rischke

Roberts

Price

2010

J Police Crim Psych

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Assessing the Effectiveness of a Training Program for Interviewing Child Witnesses

Cited by 106 publications

References 11 publications

A structured forensic interview protocol improves the quality and informativeness of investigative interviews with children: A review of research using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol

A structured forensic interview protocol improves the quality and informativeness of investigative interviews with children: A review of research using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol

Making the most of information‐gathering interviews with children

Using Spaced Learning Principles to Translate Knowledge into Behavior: Evidence from Investigative Interviews of Alleged Child Abuse Victims

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