Portuguese version
Peixoto, C., Ribeiro, C., & Alberto, I. (2013). O Protocolo de Entrevista Forense do NICHD: contributo na obtenção do testemunho da criança no contexto português [The NICHD Forensic Interview Protocol: a contribution to obtaining the child's testimony in the Portuguese context]. Revista do Ministério Público, 134, 149-187.
Original version
Lamb, M. E., Hershkowitz, I., Orbach, Y., & Esplin, P. W. (2008). Tell me what happened: Structure investigative interviews of child victims and witnesses. Wiley-Blackwell.
Theoretical background
The participation of children and other vulnerable witnesses in the judicial context is increasing. Regarding suspicions or allegations of sexual abuse, the interview with the child within the scope of the criminal proceedings has a fundamental role, highlighting, in the Portuguese legal framework the Declarations for Future Memory (art. 271, art. 294 and art. 320 of the Portuguese Code of Criminal Procedure). Interviewing children is a challenging process for themselves and for professionals. Following extensive research in the Psychology of Testimony and Developmental Psychology, the NICHD (Lamb et al., 2008) developed an investigative interview protocol, which meets two essential objectives: increasing the guarantee of obtaining accurate and useful information for the judicial process, and minimizing the impact negative in the child, in terms of symptoms.
The interview must be guided by minimizing the presence of interrogative suggestibility and correspond to the child's developmental characteristics, particularly in terms of cognition, especially memory, linguistic, emotional and social skills (Lamb et al., 2008). There is currently a revised version of the protocol, NICHD-R, which includes the same phases, but places a greater focus on establishing the relationship, which is now prior to clarifying the interview rules (Myklebust, et al., 2015). The NICHD protocol is the one that has generated the greatest volume of research, is used in several countries, and is available in nineteen languages, including Portuguese (Alberto et al., 2017; Erens et al., 2022; La Rooy et al., 2015; Myklebust, et al., 2015). In adapting the protocol for the Portuguese population, an experimental study was developed, with children and adolescents between 4 and 16 years old, which was monitored and approved by M. Lamb (Alberto et al., 2017; Peixoto et al., 2013).
Description
Type of Instrument: Interview protocol.
Application: Individual.
Population: 4-16 years old (Portuguese studies).
Contacts
Catarina Ribeiro (cjribeiro@ucp.pt).
Carlos Peixoto (cpeixoto@ucp.pt), (carlos.eduardo.peixoto@pm.me).
Isabel Alberto (isamaria@fpce.uc.pt).
References
- Alberto, I., Barros, L., Dias, R., Maravilha, M., & Ribeiro, C. (2017). Protocolo de entrevista forense do NICHD [NICHD forensic interview protocol]. In M. R. Simões, L.S. Almeida, & M.M. Gonçalves (Coords.). Psicologia Forense: Instrumentos de avaliação [Forensic Psychology: Assessment instruments] (pp. 211-227). Pactor.
- Erens, B., Otgaar, H., de Ruiter, C., van Bragt, D., & Hershkowitz, I. (2022). The NICHD interview protocol used by Dutch child protection workers: Effects on interview style, children's reported information and susceptibility to suggestion. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 36(1), 7-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3893
- Lamb, M. E., Hershkowitz, I., Orbach, Y., & Esplin, P.W. (2008). Tell me what happened: Structure investigative interviews of child victims and witnesses. Wiley -Blackwell.
- La Rooy, D., Brubacher, S.P., Aromäki-Stratos, A., Cyr, M., Hershkowitz, I., Korkman, J., Myklebust, T., Naka, M., Peixoto, C. E., Roberts, K. P., H. Stewart, & Lamb, M.E. (2015). The NICHD protocol: A review of an internationally-used evidence-based tool for training child forensic interviewers. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice,1(2),76-89. http://doi.org/10.1108/JCRPP-01-2015-0001
- Peixoto, C., Ribeiro, C., & Alberto, I. (2013). O Protocolo de Entrevista Forense do NICHD: contributo na obtenção do testemunho da criança no contexto português [The NICHD Forensic Interview Protocol: a contribution to obtaining the child's testimony in the Portuguese context]. Revista do Ministério Público, 134, 149-187.