Child perceptions of note-taking in forensic interviews

In child maltreatment investigations, forensic interviewers must elicit accurate narratives while prioritizing children's wellbeing in a safe environment that minimizes distress. While note-taking may help reduce suggestive questioning and improve disclosure accuracy, research in adult clinical settings shows mixed effects on comfort, rapport, and perceptions of the interviewer. Little is known about how children experience note-taking, or how it affects their emotional wellbeing and sense of safety.

The study aims to investigate children's perceptions of behavioural and relational cues arising from interviewer note-taking practices in forensic interviews, specifically examining their influence on perceived child comfort, nervousness, interviewer friendliness, and the quality of the interviewer-child relationship.

Ninety-four children (M_age = 9.66) from North America viewed eight interview videos under four note-taking conditions via Microsoft Teams.

After each video, children rated their comfort and nervousness level regarding the video's interview, as well as their perceptions of the child and interviewer across comfort, nervousness, friendliness, and relationship quality.

Paired samples t-tests revealed that note-taking was significantly associated with increased perceived child nervousness (p < .001, d = 0.644) and nervousness felt by participants (p < .001, d = 0.691); no significant effect was found for either perceived (p = .864, d = 0.018) and felt comfort (p = .716, d = 0.038), or perceived friendliness (p = .844, d = 0.021). A one-way repeated-measures ANOVA revealed that note-taking had no significant effect on perceived relationship quality (p = 1.000, η²_p = 0.000).

Note-taking behavioural cues were not perceived to affect relationship quality and rapport, though ways to reduce child nervousness are needed.