Testing the effectiveness of a blended vulnerable witness training for forensic interviewers

Abstract

The current study tested the effectiveness of a compact (18 hour) and blended (involving online and face-to-face components) training course, adapted from a previously evaluated course found to be successful in fostering long-term change in interviewing skill. The compact course was developed by trimming the previous course to only include learning activities that empirically demonstrated improvement of interviewing skills. There were 41 US forensic interviewers, with prior training experience, who took part in the research. Their interviewing habits were assessed using standardized mock interviews immediately prior to, and at the conclusion of training. A subset were assessed 9-24 months later. Results demonstrated that, despite reductions in length and content, training was effective in the short term and the subset maintained trained behaviors up to 24 months after completion. Results suggest that adjustments to training can be effective if the training remains founded on principles of human learning.

Keywords:

• Assessment/evaluation
• children
• program development
• program evaluation

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the forensic interviewers who gave their time to participate in the research.

Disclosure of interest

The data for this study arose from a training exercise included in not-for-profit training offered by MBP and SPB to the organization where LCS is employed. The research was conducted as part of the dissertation of ML. The quantitative data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request.

Ethical standards and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation [institutional and national] and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all participants for being included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded in part by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant to DP180100715 to MBP, DB, & SPB.