How Interviewers Navigate Child Abuse Disclosure After an Unproductive Start in Forensic Interviews

Abstract

Obtaining abuse disclosure from children in forensic interviews can be challenging for interviewers. The present study explored strategies interviewers used when children did not disclose abuse in response to the initial invitation to provide the interview purpose. The sample included 116 forensic interviews with 4- to 16-year-olds who ultimately disclosed abuse (85% sexual). Interviewer strategies were coded following the non-productive initial invitation until the point of children’s eventual disclosure. Four main types of strategies were found: re-phrasing the initial transition prompt, asking a follow-up question, introducing prior information, and using a minimal encourager (e.g., “Uh-huh”). Strategies were coded as high- or low-quality. Consistent with predictions, 85% of children’s disclosures followed high-quality strategies. In a cycle of effective communication, such interviewer strategies predicted informative child responses, which then led to subsequent high-quality interviewer strategies. Both interviewers and children demonstrated consistency in their question and response patterns, respectively. Coupled with additional exploratory sequential analyses of interviewer-child reciprocal communication and the prior research literature, the present data suggest practical ways that interviewers can break ineffective cycles of communication in the process of obtaining child abuse disclosures.