L12 - Adult-Child Interaction: Implications for research and professional practice

Question 1

Why is important to study adult-child interaction?

Answer 1

• If you work in
  
  • Forensic - child is victim/perpatrator
  • Psychological research
  • Clinical interview/treatment

Question 2

What matters in these interactions?

Answer 2

• Consent
• Comfort of the child
• Reliability of data
• Do no harm

Question 3

What is consent in research?

Answer 3

• Remember your research participation
  
  • Age of child – assent/consent
    
    • Assent - Consent by just taking part, not fully understanding what the study is about
    • Consent can come through the parent
  • Written/verbal/indication of agreement
  • How do we know if a child wants to stop?
  • How do we know if a child is informed?
• What factors do we need to be mindful of?
  
  • Explaining versus cajoling
    
    • Need to be careful with language - not persuade them to do it, neutral tone
  • Incentivising versus bribing
    
    • You can incentivise with affirmation or through having a sticker
    • But bribing - if you do this, you can have a sticker
• What details might be important?
  
  • Where will the research take place?
    
    • Lab setting - uncomfortable?
  • Will mum/dad be there?
    
    • Is the caregiver going to be nearby?
  • Will they be on camera/recorded?
  • Can they leave to use the toilet?
  • Have they had a snack recently?

Question 4

What is consent like in the legal context?

Answer 4

• Implications of consent vary according to the context
  
  • Cannot be persuaded or influenced by others
• Main reason innocent people go to prison is because they waive the right to a lawyer as they think they’re innocent - need to understand possible implications of crime

Question 5

What is consent in a clinical context?

Answer 5

• Does a child need to agree to treatment?
• Is lack of engagement the refusal of consent or a challenge to be overcome?
• Can a child request parent presence/absence?
  
  • Separation anxiety
• What if the child is in the care of social services?
  
  • Who gives consent?
    
    • Possible for different caregivers can have different consent decisions
• Should a child be informed as to what they are about to participate in?

Question 6

What factors will influence how comfortable a child is?

Answer 6

• Familiarity
  
  • Home, school, office?
  • Have you met before?
  • Interviewed before?
    
    • Can be positive or negative based on past experiences
• Environment
  
  • Novel?
  • Welcoming?
  • “Child-friendly”?
  • Confidential? – soundproof?
    
    • Kids are aware of whether you can hear from the corridor - not stupid/naiive to surroundings
  • Physically comfortable?
    
    • Needs to be suited to child size
• Explanation
  
  • Duration
  • Process
  • Expectations
    
    • If not discussed early on, they can go off-track
  • Tour
  • Honesty
  • Transparency
    
    • Everything is really clear
• Affect
  
  • Appropriate expression
    
    • Kids will say things that shock you, need to keep face neutral so they don’t think that what they’re saying is abnormal
  • Paying attention
  • Video yourself

Question 7

How should you approach a child who is “at risk”?

Answer 7

• Appropriate language
  
  • Age of child
  • Mental age
  • Professional
  • “In your own words”
  • Don’t try to be cool!
• Appropriate body-language
  
  • Engaged with child
  • Relaxed, professional
  • Personal space - some children with abuse history cannot judge personal space
  • Interpersonal space
    
    • Between shoulder and elbow is generally interpersonal space - again abused children don’t have that concept necessarily
  • Need to choose carefully where they are sat in a room. Access to door? In the corner?
• Predict behaviour
  
  • Trauma triggers
  • Relevant stimuli
  • Read child’s body language and affect
• Time
• Building of rapport
  
  • Need to be comfortable personally and professionally
  • Trust
  • Engage without being invasive
  • Eye contact but not invading space
  • Give child time to respond
  • Can’t tell them things that you can’t promise

Question 8

What do you need to consider when extracting information (from all contexts)?

Answer 8

• Quantity of information
  
  • Complete the tasks/interviews
  • Sufficient evidence
  • Single versus repeat interactions
    
    • e.g. children with ADHD will struggle all in one go
• How to maximize data quantity
  
  • Build rapport - get more data out of it
  • Take breaks
  • Inform child of likely duration – honestly!
  • Discuss options for completion
• Quality (veracity) of information
  
  • Understanding of truth
  • Authority effect
  • Expectations – “right answer”
  • Aim to please

Question 9

How do you extract information in a forensic context?

Answer 9

• Quality (veracity) of information
  
  • Witness/victim testimony
  • Disclosure
• Problem: how do you interview a child in a way that minimises the effects of authority/wanting to please? How do you determine what the truth is?
  
  • Answer
    
    • Prof. Michael Lamb – University of Cambridge
      
      • Developed best-practice guidelines for interviewing children in cases of child sex abuse
      • NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)
      • It has been developed with reference to child development issues, including linguistic capabilities, memory and suggestibility, forensic needs, interviewer behaviour, and the effects of stress and trauma by a team of researchers, interviewers, police officers, and legal professionals.
      • Want to maximise free-recall
      • More than a decade of research has shown that effective interviewer training can begin with the proper use of the NICHD Protocol because it allows interviewers to maximize the amount of information obtained from free-recall memory by using open-ended prompts.
      • The NICHD Protocol requires fewer more risky focused questions be used and does not advocate the use of anatomical dolls and other risky techniques.
      • The overarching goal for effective training is to operationalize these evidence based professional recommendations
• Forensic case study: “Hampstead whistleblower”
  
  • In 2014, two children (brother, 8, sister, 9) made statements to the police accusing their father of being the head of a large paedophilic cult operating within a primary school and church in Hampstead, London.
  • The accusations were extreme – killing of babies, repeated rape, involved many members of the community
  • The accusations came to light following a holiday with the children’s mother and her boyfriend
  • The police interviews are available on Youtube
  • An interesting and useful teaching tool but very questionable ethics
  • Ended up in care as was pressured into making false accusations

Question 10

What is the basic overview of the NICHD?

Answer 10

• Introductory phase
• Rapport-Building Phase
• Pre-substantive to substantive phase - moves naturally into the events that actually occurred
• Got to use non-suggestive prompts

Question 11

How do you determine what the truth is?

Answer 11

In general:

• Observation measurements – fact check
• Independent assessors – coherence of data
• Repetition of questions – coherence of data
• Analyses of data – Statement Validity Assessment
  
  • Developed in Germany to determine credibility of child witnesses’ testimonies in trials of sexual abuse
  • Mainly used to guide police investigations rather than in court cases
  • (Vrij, 2005)
• Statement Validity Assessment
  
  • Three major elements:– Semi-structured interview– Criteria-based content analysis (CBCA) of transcript– Evaluation of CBCA outcome via a set of questions (validity check-list)
  • CBCA: based on the “Undeutsch hypothesis”– A statement derived from memory of an actual experience differs in content and quality from a statement based on invention and fantasy (Undeutsch, 1987)– Evaluators judge the presence or absence (or strength) of 19 criteria– The presence of each criterion strengthens the hypothesis that the account is based on genuine experience– Absence of a criterion does not necessarily mean the statement is fabricated

Question 12

Does CBCA work?

Answer 12

• Studies have shown that criteria 3 (quantity of details), 4 (contextual embedding) and 6 (reproductions of conversations) are the most strongly supported.
• In 92% of experimental studies, truth tellers received higher CBCA scores than liars
• However, the CBCA is a “truth verifying method” not a “lie- detection technique”
• There is no “cut-off” to determine whether the statement is truthful or deceitful

Question 13

How do you abide by do-no harm?

Answer 13