Hearing the voice of the child: how technology-assisted approaches can help

Young children can find conventional interview formats difficult, and there can be concerns over the reliability and validity of their accounts. This session describes the use of technology-assisted approaches to hearing... [ view full abstract ]

Young children can find conventional interview formats difficult, and there can be concerns over the reliability and validity of their accounts. This session describes the use of technology-assisted approaches to hearing the voice of the child. The presentation describes studies using In My Shoes (IMS), a computer assisted interview which has been used in a wide range of contexts to help children talk about their emotions and experiences across the settings that they experience, including home, out-of-home care settings and schools. They can represent the people in these settings so that a matrix of understanding can be developed of their emotions and experiences with different people in different places. The interview also allows them to describe pain and discomfort. In the first presentation, IMS, and apps developed from this, will be described. The presentation will describe a rigorous test of the validity of accounts given by Swedish children using the IMS approach. Children aged four and five years of age took part in routine health checks which were videotaped, and were subsequently interviewed using either IMS or a best practice, standard forensic verbal interview. Accuracy and completeness of the children’s accounts were compared and suggest that the two approaches are comparable, indicating the validity of IMS. Most children preferred IMS. The development of rapport and interaction when using IMS and standard best practice interviews was compared for inhibited with uninhibited children. These analyses showed benefits of using IMS. We will describe approaches to interviewing children of parents with a severe and enduring mental health problems. It includes material from interviews with young children aged 4 to 9 about their parent’s bipolar disorder, showing their views of family life  and exemplifying the way that this approach can help hear the voice of the child.