RT Article
T1 Can a communication assessment provide a reliable indication of a child’s communication at interview?
JF Psychology, crime & law
VO 28
IS 7
SP 660
OP 679
A1 Smethurst, Alex Jane
A2 Carthy, Nikki
A2 Milne, Rebecca
A2 Gillespie-Smith, Karri
A2 Collins, Kimberly
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1813205809
AB Criminal justice systems rely heavily upon spoken language. This presents significant barriers for young witnesses who may have difficulty putting their experiences into words. In order to give their best evidence these witnesses may require additional scaffolding during an investigative interview. The current study is the first to examine the efficacy of ‘Unpacking the Box’ – a tool used by police officers and intermediaries to assess children’s communication abilities and determine the nature of scaffolding required. The study involved children, aged four to nine, taking part in a staged event. The children were allocated to one of three experimental conditions (assessment, no assessment, colouring). One week later, the children were interviewed about their experiences. Prior to the interviews, predictions were made regarding the children’s interview performance. The predictions for the children in the assessment condition were based on the findings of an ‘Unpacking the Box’ assessment. As for the children in the other conditions the predictions were based on professional judgement. The analysis looked at how closely the predictions reflected the children’s interview performance. Communication assessments were found to be superior to professional judgement in ascertaining a child’s abilities; thus, enabling interviewers to conduct more effective interviews with children.
K1 Child Development
K1 communication assessment
K1 Communication
K1 Child witnesses
K1 Investigative interviewing
DO 10.1080/1068316X.2021.1962864