Moray House School of Education & Sport, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, McGill University, Canada.
Child Abuse Negl. 2021 Mar;113:104930. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.104930. Epub 2021 Jan 14.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: The forensic interview is an important part of the investigative process with child witnesses, and ensuring evidence-based practices is crucial to its success. This meta-analysis examined the overall effect of rapport practices and question type on children's disclosures during forensic interviews to determine (a) how large of an influence existing practices have on children's tendency to disclose information, and (b) how consistent the effect sizes of interviewing practices are across studies, given that inconsistent results have been found.
A systematic review of child interviewing practices was conducted, and 35 studies met the inclusion criteria. Articles were categorized thematically according to interviewing practice. Two practices were predominantly represented in the literature and were selected for review and meta-analysis: rapport techniques, including interviewer support, (n = 9), and question type (n = 25 samples, 23 studies). Random-effects meta-analytic models were computed separately for rapport practices and question type, and moderator analyses were conducted to test for differences according to age and interviewing protocol.
Rapport techniques had a medium overall effect on children's disclosures (d = 0.55, p < .001), and was moderated by the interviewing protocol used, but not children's age. Open-ended questions compared to closed-ended questions had a medium overall effect on children's descriptions of sensitive events (d = 0.52, p < .001), and was not moderated by age or interviewing protocol.
These findings provide overarching support for the use of rapport and support, and the use of open-ended questions in forensic interviews with child witnesses.
在涉及儿童证人的调查过程中，法医访谈是一个重要环节，确保基于证据的实践至关重要。本元分析旨在考察建立融洽关系的实践和问题类型对儿童在法医访谈中披露信息的总体影响，以确定：（a）现有实践对儿童披露信息的倾向有多大影响；（b）鉴于研究结果不一致，访谈实践的效应大小在不同研究中是否一致。
对儿童访谈实践进行了系统回顾，有 35 项研究符合纳入标准。根据访谈实践对文章进行主题分类。文献中主要有两种实践，选择对其进行综述和元分析：融洽关系技巧，包括访谈员支持（n = 9）和问题类型（n = 25 个样本，23 项研究）。分别为融洽关系实践和问题类型计算了随机效应元分析模型，并进行了调节分析，以检验年龄和访谈方案的差异。
融洽关系技巧对儿童的披露有中等总体影响（d = 0.55，p <.001），受使用的访谈方案调节，但不受儿童年龄的影响。与封闭式问题相比，开放式问题对儿童对敏感事件的描述有中等总体影响（d = 0.52，p <.001），不受年龄或访谈方案的影响。
这些发现为在法医访谈中使用融洽关系和支持，以及使用开放式问题为儿童证人提供了总体支持。
