Challenges in translating interview protocols for alleged child victims of sexual abuse to different languages: A case study

Navarro, Carolina; Knight, Tess; Sharman, Stefanie J.; Powell, Martine B.

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104033

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Despite the uttered need for forensic child interviews to be interpreted verbatim, the prevalent perception of an interpreter as an invisible translation machine is problematic (Böser and La Rooy, 2018;Gallai, 2013;Goodman-Delahunty et al, 2020). Due to linguistic and cultural differences, it is often not possible to translate utterances word-by-word, which makes it challenging to translate even an interview protocol without changing the content or interpretation of the prompts (Navarro, Knight, Sharman, & Powell, 2019). An interpreter is not just a translator but an active part of the conversation, and a cultural guide, who, for example, informs if the way of communicating something does not translate well into the other language, or if the style of the communication changes when translated word-by-word (Gallai, 2013;Goodman-Delahunty et al, 2020;Nakane, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It doesn’t work at all, that’s my experience”: Swedish forensic interviewers’ views on interpreter-mediated child interviews

Ernberg¹,

Magnusson²,

Koponen³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Legal practitioners have expressed concerns regarding the quality of interpreter-mediated forensic interviews with child witnesses.Objective: This mixed-methods study aimed to examine Swedish forensic interviewers’ experiences of conducting child interviews via a language interpreter. Participants and setting: Forty-one forensic interviewers from the Swedish Police Authority with experience conducting interpreter-mediated child interviews participated in a digital survey. Methods: Their responses were analyzed using both qualitative (thematic and content analyses) and quantitative (descriptive and inferential statistics) approaches. Results: The forensic interviewers’ general experiences of conducting interpreter-mediated child interviews were negative. Limited access to authorized legal interpreters and doubts regarding the accuracy of interpretation were described as major obstacles in these investigations. The presence of an interpreter could negatively impact children’s disclosure process and limit their chances of expressing their views during legal proceedings.Conclusions: According to Swedish forensic interviewers, the quality of interpreter-mediated child interviews urgently needs to be addressed. Our results are consistent with previous surveys from Australia and the United States, highlighting the international relevance of these topics. Future improvements are vital to ensure that all children are provided an equal right to be heard during criminal investigations, regardless of the native language.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“It doesn’t work at all, that’s my experience”: Swedish forensic interviewers’ views on interpreter-mediated child interviews

Ernberg¹,

Magnusson²,

Koponen³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Minor variations in wording and technique inevitably occur within and across jurisdictions due to variability in cultures, legislation, and processes. Further, variations are needed when the protocol is translated to a new language (Navarro et al, 2019). The SIM model documents and formalizes the variations allowing for tracking and empirical testing.…”

Section: Commentary 10 Horse Before the Cart: Solid Foundations Support Informed Adaptationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urgent issues and prospects at the intersection of culture, memory, and witness interviews: Exploring the challenges for research and practice

Hope

Anakwah

Antfolk

et al. 2021

Legal Criminol Psychol

Self Cite

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The pursuit of justice increasingly relies on productive interactions between witnesses and investigators from diverse cultural backgrounds during investigative interviews. To date, the role of cultural context has largely been ignored by researchers in the field of investigative interviewing, despite repeated requests from practitioners and policymakers for evidence‐based guidance for the conduct of interviews with people from different cultures. Through examining cultural differences in human memory and communication and considering specific contextual challenges for investigative interviewing through the lens of culture, this review and associated commentaries highlight the scope for considering culture and human diversity in research on, and the practice of, investigative interviewing with victims, witnesses, and other sources. Across 11 commentaries, contributors highlight the importance of considering the role of culture in different investigative interviewing practices (e.g., rapport building, questioning techniques) and contexts (e.g., gender‐based violence, asylum seeking, child abuse), address common areas of cultural mismatch between interviewer–interviewee expectations, and identify critical future routes for research. We call for an increased focus in the investigative interviewing literature on the nature and needs of our global community and encourage constructive and collaborative discussion between researchers and practitioners from around the world to better identify specific challenges and work together towards evidence‐based solutions.

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“…Lastly, recent research has shown the significance of including cultural and contextual aspects in the translation process when it comes to the translation of investigative interview protocols for children (IIPCs) as compared to a mere direct translation process ( Navarro et al, 2019 ). Upon reading the official German translation of the R-NICHD protocol ( Noeker and Franke, 2018 ), which was used in this study, some translations appeared to be either sub-optimal or too complicated due to the grammatical structure of some translated statements when compared to the English R-NICHD protocol.…”

Section: Limitations and Suggestions For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Individual Interviewer Rapport-Building and Supportive Techniques of the R-NICHD Protocol

2021

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The use of the rapport-building and supportive techniques formulated by the R-NICHD protocol is intended to support children and increase the quality of their statements as well as disclosures without possessing suggestive potential. While the effectiveness of the entire R-NICHD protocol for children who have actually experienced child sexual abuse (CSA) has been supported by research, to date no study assessed the effect of each individual socio-emotional interview technique in both interviewees with and without CSA experiences. The current study aimed to address this gap in research by means of an online vignette-study, asking participants to rate the identified rapport-building and supportive techniques on the scales well-being, willingness to talk, and perceived pressure. A total of 187 participants were randomly assigned to either a hypothetical “abused” or a hypothetical “not abused” group by means of a vignette-manipulation. The results suggest that many socio-emotional interview techniques were perceived as supportive and non-suggestive, while a number of techniques were perceived as not supportive but suggestive. Few differences emerged between the hypothetical “abused” group and the hypothetical “not abused” control group. To conclude, most but not all rapport-building and supportive techniques proposed by the R-NICHD protocol had a positive effect on interviewees.

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Challenges in translating interview protocols for alleged child victims of sexual abuse to different languages: A case study

Cited by 9 publications

References 29 publications

“It doesn’t work at all, that’s my experience”: Swedish forensic interviewers’ views on interpreter-mediated child interviews

“It doesn’t work at all, that’s my experience”: Swedish forensic interviewers’ views on interpreter-mediated child interviews

Urgent issues and prospects at the intersection of culture, memory, and witness interviews: Exploring the challenges for research and practice

Assessing the Individual Interviewer Rapport-Building and Supportive Techniques of the R-NICHD Protocol

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