This study investigated the narrative coherence of children's accounts elicited in multiple forensic interviews. Transcriptions of 56 police interviews with 28 children aged 3-14 years alleging physical and sexual abuse were coded for markers of completeness, consistency and connectedness. We found that multiple interviews increased the…

This study examined the quality of forensic interviews conducted by specially trained police officers in the Norwegian Barnahus between 2015 and 2017, using the sequential interview (SI) model, a Norwegian version of the extended interview model that has not previously been studied. Two hundred and seven interviews of alleged abused preschool…

Globally, children with intellectual disabilities are at an increased risk of being victims of maltreatment compared to those without disabilities. Among the children who do disclose the abuse, limitations with communication and working memory can result in their allegation being perceived as not credible. There are several evidence-based…

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a global public health problem with major consequences for the individual child and society. An earlier Swedish study showed that the school nurses did not initially talk about nor mention CSA as one form of child abuse. For the child to receive adequate support, the disclosure is a precondition and is dependent on an…

The focus of the present study is on how a number of Swedish schools define and categorise students who have been exposed to different forms of abusive acts and violence at school. The empirical study was designed to explore six Swedish urban secondary schools. The results indicated a recurrent pattern in school officials' narratives, which is…

In suspected child sexual abuse some professionals recommend multiple child interviews to increase the likelihood of disclosure or more details to improve decision-making and increase convictions. We modeled the yield of a policy of routinely conducting multiple child interviews and increased convictions. Our decision tree reflected the path of a…

Objective: The present study was designed to test the effects of repeated retrievals in the course of forensic investigations with children who are the alleged victims of sexual abuse. Method: Using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development protocol, 56 children participated in a first free-recall interview that was followed by…

Definitions vary on what constitutes sexual and/or physical abuse, and scholars have debated on which methods might yield the most accurate response rates for capturing this sensitive information. Although some studies suggest respondents prefer methods that provide anonymity, previous studies have not utilized high-risk or stigmatized…

The article provides a history of efforts to develop a credentialing or certification process for forensic interviewers and reviews the multitiered credentialing process offered by the National Association of Certified Child Forensic Interviewers. The authors argue the benefits of a credentialing process for forensic interviewers and respond to…

This article explores commonly held perceptions by young people as to why they are sometimes not believed by practitioners when reporting potential or actual instances of abuse or neglect. Using original data gained from telephone, individual and group interviews with over a hundred young people a "typology of disbelief" was constructed and is…

This article reviews some sensitivity versus specificity imbalances in forensic investigations of child sexual abuse. It then proposes the development or further testing of additional approaches for those children who do not respond to the current, single-interview National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) protocol. Although…

Objective: The study focused on children's nonverbal behavior in investigative interviews exploring suspicions of child abuse. The key aims were to determine whether non-verbal behavior in the pre-substantive phases of the interview predicted whether or not children would disclose the alleged abuse later in the interview and to identify…

Objective: Young children's descriptions of maltreatment are often sparse thus creating the need for techniques that elicit lengthier accounts. One technique that can be used by interviewers in an attempt to increase children's reports is "paraphrasing," or repeating information children have disclosed. Although we currently have a general…

Childhood sexual abuse is a prevalent social and health care problem. The processes by which individuals heal from childhood sexual abuse are not clearly understood. The purpose of this study was to develop a theoretical model to describe how adults heal from childhood sexual abuse. Community recruitment for an ongoing broader project on sexual…

The purpose of this study was to unpack notions of class, culture, and race as they relate to multidisciplinary team (MDT) professionals and their perceptions of prevalence in child sexual abuse cases in Native and non-Native rural Alaska communities. Power and privilege within professional settings is significant for all social work professionals…