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Enhancing children's narratives in investigative interviews.
Child Abuse & Neglect
|February 24, 2001
Summary
Forensic interview prompts significantly impact detail elicitation from child abuse victims. Open-ended questions, even those using child-provided cues, are most effective for gathering accurate, narrative accounts.
Area of Science:
- Forensic Psychology
- Child Development
- Investigative Interviewing Techniques
Background:
- Forensic interviews are critical for gathering information from alleged abuse victims.
- The type of prompts used can influence the quantity and quality of details elicited.
- Understanding prompt effectiveness is crucial for accurate investigations.
Observation:
- Analysis of forensic interviews with a 5-year-old and a 15-year-old.
- Interview prompts were categorized as invitations, cued invitations, directive, or option-posing.
- The number of details elicited by each prompt type was tabulated.
Findings:
- Open-ended prompts predominated in both interviews and were effective throughout.
- The majority of information was elicited using open-ended prompts.
- Successive prompts, particularly open-ended ones, facilitated detailed narrative reconstruction.
Implications:
- Well-framed open-ended prompts are effective in eliciting detailed narratives from children of all ages.
- Using child-provided details as cues within open-ended prompts enhances information gathering.
- Investigators should prioritize open-ended prompts to obtain more accurate accounts from child victims.