What is it about?
This article shows that the use of open--ended questions and supportive statements increased children's sense of safety when professionals interviewed them for the purposes of discovering whether or not they had experienced sexual abuse.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Child sexual abuse can have serious effects on children's sense of self, development, and life chances when it isn't addressed. Most child sexual abuse is undetected because children are afraid to talk about it. Respect for children that arises from the use of open-ended questions and supportive statements helps them feel safe, so they are more able to disclose the abuse. Disclosure increases the possibility that perpetrators will be identified, held accountable, and referred for treatment. This decreases the possibility that they will harm other children.
Perspectives
I have devoted my career to the prevention of child sexual abuse and other forms of interpersonal violence. I have been a supporter of CornerHouse since it began decades ago. I was happy to be the principal investigator for this project. I am pleased with the results and hopeful that the results will have a wide-spread positive influence.
Professor Jane Gilgun
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
My research focuses on partnering with community agencies to evaluate interventions and programs related to child sexual abuse and sexual violence prevention. This research provides further evidence of the use of open-ended questions when interviewing children about sexual abuse allegations using the CornerHouse Interview Protocol.
Gwendolyn Anderson
University of Minnesota Duluth
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Influence of Narrative Practice Techniques on Child Behaviors in Forensic Interviews, Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, August 2014, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/10538712.2014.932878.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
