Expert interviewers’ approach to navigating forensic interviews with adolescents who are reluctant to disclose sexual abuse

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Gerryts, Dirkje D
Deck, Sarah L
Powell, Martine B
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2024
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Abstract

Adolescents are often reluctant to disclose experiences of sexual abuse in forensic interviews. In these situations, there is consensus that interviewers should respond supportively, yet they appear to have considerable difficulty doing so. In the current study, we sought to provide practical guidance on how interviewers can adopt a supportive approach when interviewees are reluctant. Twenty-one expert interviewers were asked how they engage and support adolescents who are reluctant to share information when sexual abuse is suspected. The findings indicate that the expert interviewers approach reluctance by leaning into and exploring the interviewee’s perspective, and tailor their response based on an awareness of the unique needs of the interviewee. Several key support strategies were identified to facilitate this approach. The findings of this study provide practical guidance for how interviewers can approach reluctant interviewees, while also generating novel directions for future research.

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Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

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© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advance online version.

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Criminology

Law in context

Applied and developmental psychology

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Gerryts, DD; Deck, SL; Powell, MB, Expert interviewers’ approach to navigating forensic interviews with adolescents who are reluctant to disclose sexual abuse, Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 2024

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