Do human figure diagrams help alleged victims of sexual abuse provide elaborate and clear accounts of physical contact with alleged perpetrators?

Abstract

The present study examined whether the use of human figure diagrams within a well-structured interview was associated with more elaborate and clearer accounts about physical contact that had occurred in the course of an alleged abuse. The sample included investigative interviews of 88 children ranging from 4 to 13 years of age. Children were interviewed using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol, and were then asked a series of questions in association with unclothed gender-neutral outline diagrams of a human body. A new coding scheme was developed to examine the types and clarity of touch-related information. Use of the HFDs was associated with reports of new touches not mentioned before and elaborations regarding the body parts reportedly touched. The HFDs especially helped clarify reports by the oldest rather than the youngest children. The clarity of children's accounts of touch was also greater when details were sought using recall prompts.

Forensic Interviewing Aids: Do Props Help Children Answer Questions About Touching?

“…In investigative interviews, adding diagram-assisted questions after other questions does lead children to recall additional information (e.g., Aldridge et al, 2004), including elaborations of bodily contact (Teoh, Yang, Lamb, & Larsson, 2010), but the accuracy of this information and the reason children recall more (i.e., diagrams vs. additional retrieval attempts vs. more specific questions) are unclear. Controlled laboratory studies that provide accuracy assessments do not support the use of body diagrams to elicit disclosures.…”

Clothed and unclothed human figure drawings lead to more correct and incorrect reports of touch in children

“…However, since the accuracy (i.e. total correct reported information divided by the total correct and incorrect information) of this information could not be measured, this result needs to be interpreted with caution (see also Teoh, Yang, Lamb, & Larsson, 2010).…”

“…This is of practical significance as children are often interrogated weeks or months after a traumatic event (see Bruck, 2009). Finally, there is little research examining the effect of age on the use of HFDs on children's recall (see Aldridge et al, 2004;Teoh et al, 2010). The above described studies (e.g.…”

Eliciting Accounts of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse: How Do Children Report Touch?

“…However, we know very little about how children report touches in the context of sexual abuse. Teoh, Yang, Lamb, and Larsson (2010) found that alleged victims of sexual abuse were generally able to describe the body parts that had been touched clearly but that younger children often failed to provide information indicating the severity of the abuse. In the present study, we focused specifically on children and interviewers' use of the word "touch" when talking about the alleged sexual abuse.…”