Rapport‐building in multiple interviews of children

Abstract

Rapport‐building is key in child investigative interviews, however, recommendations of how to build rapport differ. Additionally, rapport in more complex situations: when a child is interviewed repeatedly or requires separate rapport building have not been studied. This research examined the UK's ‘Achieving Best Evidence’ guidelines for rapport‐building, which recommend conducting a neutral discussion, compared with a control condition and a separate rapport‐building session for first interviews on children's recall and well‐being (measured by state anxiety and rapport questionnaires). For second and third interviews, additional full rapport‐building sessions were compared to shortened or no rapport‐building conditions. No significant differences in children's (N = 107) recall or well‐being were found across rapport‐building conditions for all interviews. We conclude that for children who have experienced non‐traumatic events, the inclusion of a neutral discussion rapport‐building phase may not be any more beneficial for children than conducting a friendly interview.