NCJ Number
228572
Journal
Child Abuse and Neglect Volume: 33 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2009 Pages: 490-504
Date Published
August 2009
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study examined how young children responded to interviewer's questions across multiple session exploratory assessment interviews.
Abstract
The study findings suggest that an interview conducted over multiple sessions might not differ substantially from a single interview in its structure, with the first interview effectively providing the opportunity for rapport building. Children provided a response to most questions, independent of question type or topic and typically responded with one or two simple clauses. In response to open-ended questions, some children disclosed abuse. However, failure to respond was more likely for abuse-specific questions. Interest has peaked over the past two decades on the best ways to interview children suspected of having been abused. With the intent to extend this field of research on interviews with young children suspected of having been abused, specifically children's responsiveness, this study examined 66 multiple assessment interviews with 24 children, ages 3 and 6 years. The primary focus was the effectiveness of different types of questions in eliciting information from children. Tables, figure, references, and appendix