The quality of children's allegations of abuse in investigative interviews containing practice narratives.

Abstract

To enhance the accuracy and completeness of children's testimony, recommendations have included implementing a practice narrative, during which children are prepared for their role as informative witnesses before discussing the allegations. In the present study, we aimed to systematically examine interviewer behaviour and the informativeness of children's testimony in a field setting. As predicted, interviewers posed fewer prompts, proportionally more open-ended prompts, and children provided proportionally more details in response to open-ended prompts in the substantive phase when preceded by a practice narrative than when no practice narrative was conducted. The relationship was enhanced when the practice narratives were conducted as recommended vs those that were conducted in a less open-ended manner. Together with experimental studies showing clear benefits of practice narratives on children's reports, these results underscore the value of a simple practice narrative as a means of enhancing the reliability of children's testimony.

Investigative Interviewing of Aboriginal Children in Cases of Suspected Sexual Abuse

“…Although the statistical analyses were not significant, the means and effect sizes signaled that children provided more words per prompt in the substantive phase when their practice narrative contained a high proportion of open-ended questions as opposed to a low proportion. This finding is consistent with previous research that has also found that open-ended practice narratives are more effective at prompting comprehensive responses from children in the substantive phase than direct practice narratives (Price et al, 2013;Sternberg et al, 1997). We contend that a lack of significance is likely due to the limited sample size in each condition (12 and 15).…”

“…The finding that children spoke more overall when their interview contained a practice narrative echoes the results of numerous studies with non-Aboriginal children (Anderson et al, 2014;Hershkowitz, 2009;Price et al, 2013;Roberts et al, 2004;Sternberg et al, 1997;Whiting, 2013). Conversely, the null finding regarding children's words per prompt is similar to previous laboratory findings with Aboriginal children (Hamilton et al, in press a), suggesting that practice narratives may not confer benefits to the accounts of all Aboriginal children, yet they also appear to do no harm.…”

“…It also provides the child with an opportunity to practice recounting memories and answering questions (predominantly open-ended: e.g., "Tell me more about that part"). Field and laboratory studies have both demonstrated that when a child is asked open-ended questions in the preparatory phase of the interview, the informativeness and/or accuracy of their subsequent accounts is improved (Anderson, Anderson, & Gilgun, 2014;Hershkowitz, 2009;Price, Roberts, & Collins, 2013;Roberts, Lamb, & Sternberg, 2004;Sternberg et al, 1997;Whiting, 2013). Research has also evinced that interviewers asked a greater proportion of open-ended prompts during the substantive phase of the interview when they had first conducted a practice narrative (Price et al, 2013).…”

Improving Children’s Interviewing Methods? The Effects of Drawing and Practice on Children’s Memories for an Event

“…The crucial finding was that the younger children who received a specific kind of practice were more complete than younger children in the other practice conditions. In another study, interviews with and without practice narratives were compared (Price et al 2013) in terms of the presence of interviewer prompts and open-ended questions. The authors found that in interviews containing practice narratives, interviewers asked fewer prompts and more open-ended questions than in interviews without practice narratives.…”

The influence of social instructions on the effectiveness of a cognitive interview used with very young child witnesses

“…As stated by Lyon (2011), it is well known that the narrative practice (step ii) increases the amount of abuse disclosure information (Hershkowitz, 2009;Price, Roberts, & Collins, 2013;Sternberg et al, 1997) without impairing the accuracy of children's statements (Roberts et al, 2004). Additionally, the presentation of the "Promise to tell the truth" instruction (step iv) is mostly effective when children have been previously incited to make false reports.…”