NCJ Number
153642
Date Published
Unknown
Length
35 pages
Annotation
An innovative procedure designed to reduce the suggestibility of children such as suspected victims of child abuse was tested in two pilot studies, which used 55 children ages 7 and 8 in a staged classroom event.
Abstract
All the students took part in a 30-minute staged classroom event, in which actors playing student teachers depicted details and action similar to those that might confuse children when they later tried to recall an event. Two weeks later, children took part in training sessions. One group, the intervention group, received instruction about the types of questions they might be asked, the possibility that questions might be misleading, and strategies to resist misleading questions. The control group received only motivating instructions to do their best. After this training, the children were asked individually about the classroom event by an unfamiliar adult posing as the college professor of the student teachers. Results revealed that the intervention was associated with fewer errors in response to misleading questions, without additional error on other types of question. These findings indicated that the intervention was a promising step towards improving the reliability of children's performance in interviews with legal and clinical personnel. The procedure was also associated with greater use of the response "I do not know" and fewer correct responses on other types of questions; this result highlights the need for rigorous testing of innovative methods to identify and eliminate unintended side effects. Figure, table, and 41 references