This study explored how asylum-seeking minors report information when formally interviewed. Twenty-six Russian-speaking minors (M= 16.0 years of age) were individually interviewed by officials assisted by one of eighteen interpreters. A quantitative analysis examined the translated questions asked by the officials, the minors’ responses to them, and the accuracy with which the minors’ responses were rendered. The asylum-seeking minors distinguished themselves as active participants. They appeared eager to disclose relevant information despite being asked many potentially contaminating questions. Most of the children’s responses were accurately rendered but mistranslations can affect the fact–finding process substantially. Both the minors and the officials involved in the asylum-seeking process need to recognise that both the questions asked and the responses given may be influenced by the third parties involved, i.e. the interpreters.

To learn about childrens ability to estimate the duration of an event many days after it occurred, 6-12-year-old children were asked to judge the amount of time (range 5-45 minutes) they spent in the treatment room as part of a paediatric visit. Judgements were made 1 week or 1 month after the visit occurred. Children showed an average error of about 13 minutes. Retention interval did not significantly affect estimates. Other judgements of the length of the interview itself (mean length 8 minutes) provided what may be the first data on childrens ability to make immediate retrospective duration estimates. The results also include information about childrens capacity to judge how long ago they visited the clinic.

This article is a study of how the participation status of asylum-seeking children is interactively constructed in interpreter-mediated asylum hearings. We have undertaken a discourse analysis of 50 non-repair side-sequences from 26 hearings with Russian-speaking, asylum-seeking children in Sweden. A side-sequence is here defined as a monolingual sequence conducted in only one of the languages involved in the interviews. It involves the interpreter and only one of the primary interlocutors. In this article, four extracts are chosen for a micro-analysis in order to elucidate how interpreters can challenge asylum-seeking children’s participant statuses. We show that the right of the child to make his or her voice heard can be challenged, especially when the interpreters exclude, distort, discredit and guide the voices of the children, which is often done with the tacit approval of caseworkers.

The present study examined the effects of repeating questions in interviews investigating the possible sexual abuse of children and youths who had a variety of intellectual disabilities. We predicted that the repetition of option-posing and suggestive questions would lead the suspected victims to change their responses, making it difficult to understand what actually happened. Inconsistency can be a key factor when assessing the reliability of witnesses.

Case files and transcripts of investigative interviews with 33 children and youths who had a variety of intellectual disabilities were obtained from prosecutors in Sweden. The interviews involved 25 females and 9 males whose chronological ages were between 5.4 and 23.7 years when interviewed (M = 13.2 years).

Six per cent of the questions were repeated at least once. The repetition of focused questions raised doubts about the reports because the interviewees changed their answers 40% of the time.

Regardless of the witnesses abilities, it is important to obtain reports that are as accurate and complete as possible in investigative interviews. Because this was a field study, we did not know which responses were accurate, but repetitions of potentially contaminating questions frequently led the interviewees to contradict their earlier answers. This means that the interviewers behaviour diminished the usefulness of the witnesses testimony.

Aims and objectives. This study will illustrate how stroke survivors, their relatives and different professionals communicated in care-planning meetings when planning care for patients after their discharge from hospital. We wanted to know what topics participants were talking about, to what extent they were involved in the discussion and how the communication was organized. Background. Communication in health care is sometimes problematic because of the participants' asymmetrical positions when negotiating how to understand the patients' future care. Methods. A qualitative and a quantitative design were adopted with a sample of 14 authentic audio-recorded care-planning meetings. The transcribed meetings were, together with observational notes, analysed from a data-driven approach. Findings. Five topics emerged. The professionals tended to dominate the discourse space even if their involvement varied depending on the topic talked about. The most noteworthy finding was the patients' need of communicative alliances with other participants when negotiating their needs and desires of further care. When making decisions two approaches emerged. The 'aim-driven' approach was characterized by alliances between those participants who seemed to share a common goal for the patient's further care. When the participants used the 'open-minded' approach they merged information and discussed different solutions leading to a goal step by step. Conclusions. The importance of strengthening stroke survivors' participation in care-planning meetings is highlighted. Professionals have to increase their knowledge about how to involve the patients as well as their awareness of how to avoid power struggles between various professionals, patients and relatives. Relevance to clinical practice. This study shows the necessity for professionals to involve relatives when negotiating these patients' need of further care and to learn more about how to advocate stroke survivors. © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

    Child abuse and neglect is as, at a minimum any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm. Four major types of maltreatment are usually included: neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. Although any of the forms of child maltreatment may be found separately, they often occur in combination. This book presents new and important research in the field

Background: When interviewing alleged victims of crime, it is important to obtain reports that are as accurate and complete as possible. This can be especially difficult when the alleged victims have intellectual disabilities (ID). This study explored how alleged victims with ID are interviewed by police officers in Sweden and how this may affect their ability to report information as accurately as possible. Methods: Twelve interviews with 11 alleged victims were selected from a larger sample. The complainants were interviewed when their chronological ages ranged from 6.1 to 22years. A quantitative analysis examined the type of questions asked and the numbers of words and details they elicited in response. Results: Instead of open-ended questions, the interviewers relied heavily on focused questions, which are more likely to elicit inaccurate information. When given the opportunity, the witnesses were able to answer directive questions informatively. Conclusions: Interviewers need special skills in order to interview alleged victims who have ID. In addition to using more open-ended questions, interviewers should speak in shorter sentences. © 2007 The Authors. Journal Compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

This study evaluated caseworkers' information-seeking prompts in interviews with asylum-seeking minors and assesses the accuracy of the translations provided by interpreters. Twenty six Russian-speaking minors were individually interviewed by one of 10 caseworkers assisted by one of 17 interpreters. A quantitative analysis examined the type of questions asked and the accuracy of the corresponding renditions. The actual and translated content of the messages were examined using a qualitative analysis. The study showed that interviewers relied heavily on focused questions, which are more likely to elicit inaccurate information. When open questions were asked, the interviewers tended to ask narrow 'directive' questions rather than broader 'invitations'. The interpreters' renditions of utterances were often inaccurate. Almost half of the misrepresentations altered the content and one third involved changes in the type of question asked. This indicates that both interviewers and translators clearly need special training to ensure that they serve asylum-seeking minors adequately. © The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Background We predicted that repeated interviewing would improve the informativeness of children with intellectual disabilities who were questioned in criminal investigations. Materials The chronological ages of the 19 children, involved in 20 cases, ranged between 4.7 and 18 years (M = 10.3 years) at the time of the first alleged abuse. Method The utterances used by interviewers to elicit information in both initial and later interviews were examined. We then assessed the substantive information provided in both interviews and compared information elicited using focused questions in the initial interview with responses about the same topic elicited using open questions in the second interview. Results The hypothesis was supported: over 80% of the information reported in the repeated interviews was about completely new topics or was new information elaborating upon previously discussed topics. However, because the interviewing techniques were so poor in both first and second interviews, information provided in the repeated interviews may have been contaminated irrespective of the children's capacities. Conclusion When children with intellectual disabilities are given a second chance to provide information about their abuse, they can further develop the information that they report and even provide entirely new information about their experiences. When interviewers are not specially trained in how to interview children with intellectual disabilities, we cannot assume that repeated interviews provide reliable and accurate information, however. © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Introduction: Stroke survivors often have communicative disabilities. They should, however, be involved when decisions are made about their care treatment. Aim: To explore and describe how nurses act as moderators of the communication in cooperative care-planning meetings and what kind of participant status the patients achieve in this type of multi-party talk. Method: Thirteen care-planning meetings were audio-recorded and transcribed. Nurses, social workers and stroke survivors were the main participants for the meetings. A coding scheme was created and three main categories were used for the analysis: pure utterance types, expert comments (EC) and asymmetries. Results: The nurses never invited the patients to tell their own versions without possible influence from them. Mostly the nurses gave ECs. The nurses acted as the patients' advocates by talking for or about them. They rarely supported the patients' utterances. Conclusion: There is an urgent need for nurses to learn how to involve the patients in the communicative process about their treatment. Assessment of the patients' communicative abilities before the care-planning meetings as well as knowledge about how to invite them can improve the patients' participant status. © 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.