An emerging research agenda for investigative interviewing: hypotheses from the narrative action system

The present issue of JIP-OP brings together an intriguing range of papers that cover a wide range of aspects of testimony and aspects of investigative interviewing. They show how the considerations of how testimony is obtained is broadening out from the memory improvement strategies that once dominated this area with attempts to detect deception, to cover many aspects of how testimony is obtained. This draws attention to the need for more careful examination of the variations in testimony eliciting processes that will be responsive to differences in context and crime. A research agenda is therefore proposed that draws on developments in the understanding of psychological differences between crimes. This research would study the relationship between the psychological processes underpinning offence actions and the interview behaviour of suspects or witnesses. With regard to suspects, recent developments in the modelling of offence style have indicated a narrative basis (narrative action system model) for understanding the patterns of offence actions and the perpetrator's psychological background and characteristics that can be inferred from these. It is therefore suggested that the Hero's Quest, Professional's Adventure, Revenger's Tragedy, and Victim's Irony offending narratives and the Object, Vehicle, and Person victim roles assigned within these, may provide a fruitful link to different patterns of interview behaviour, with consequent implications for approaches to interviewing. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New Directions in Capacity Building: Incorporating Cultural Competence into the Interactive Systems Framework

The UMBC Psychology Department's Center for Community Collaboration (CCC) provides training and support for capacity building to promote substance abuse and mental health treatment as well as adherence improvement in community agencies funded through the Ryan White Act serving persons living with HIV/AIDS. This article describes an approach to dissemination of Evidence Based Practices (EBPs) for these services that uses the Interactive Systems Framework (ISF) and incorporates a collaborative process involving trainer cultural competence, along with a comprehensive assessment of organizational needs, culture, and climate that culminates in tailored training and ongoing collaboration. This article provides: (1) an overview of the CCC's expanded ISF for the effective dissemination of two EBPs—motivational interviewing and the stages of change perspective; (2) an examination of the role of trainer cultural competence within the ISF framework, particularly attending to organizational culture and climate; and (3) case examples to demonstrate this approach for both general and innovation‐specific capacity building in two community based organizations. Special Issue: Advances in Bridging Research and Practice Using the Interactive System Framework for Dissemination and Implementation; Guest Editors: Abraham Wandersman, Paul Flaspohler, Catherine A. Lesesne, Richard Puddy; Action Editor: Emilie Phillips Smith     

Barriers to Learning Motivational Interviewing: A Survey of Motivational Interviewing Trainers' Perceptions

Trainers reported that motivational interviewing (MI)–inconsistent behaviors were frequently perceived during training and believed to create barriers to learning. More barriers were perceived in corrections than in mental health training audiences. Strategies to facilitate unlearning MI‐inconsistent behaviors may accelerate acquisition of MI.     

Examining the positive effects of rapport building: When and why does rapport building benefit adult eyewitness memory?

Most investigative interviewing protocols recommend building rapport with cooperative adult witnesses to increase the accuracy of their reports. Although a few recent studies support the benefits of rapport building on adult witness recall, no study has examined whether the timing of rapport in relation to post-event misinformation affects recall accuracy, and whether these effects are related to witness anxiety levels throughout the interview. The present study provided two hundred and thirty-three undergraduates with a videotaped mock crime followed by building high or low rapport either before or after they received post-event misinformation. All witnesses were then interviewed about the mock crime. Results indicated that high rapport before misinformation increased the amount of accurate information reported in a subsequent witness interview compared to low rapport. However, these recall benefits were not due to a reduction in anxiety. Theoretical implications and practical recommendations for police interviewing practices are discussed.     

Methods and aims of investigative interviewing of adult witnesses: An analysis of professional practices

Eyewitnesses provide crucial evidence for the investigation of criminal cases. We analysed professional police interviewers’ behaviour by conducting a literature review. Our results indicate that the interviewing techniques used by untrained and trained investigators are predominantly inappropriate and harmful to memory recall. The way investigators curtail and select witnesses’ responses suggests that they look for specific information. As a subsequent step, we analysed investigative interviewing in terms of professional objectives, identifying the types of information that the police inquire about during the interview. Based on our results, we conclude future research should perform a fine-grained analysis of professional interviewing procedures with the aim of producing effective interviewing techniques that meet investigators’ real-world objectives.     

Development of a Brief Motivational Enhancement Intervention for Intimate Partner Violence in Alcohol Treatment Settings

The current studies were a manual development study and a small pilot study of a 90-minute motivational enhancement style intervention to address intimate partner violence in alcohol-treatment-seeking men. Analyses of feedback provided during manual development suggest participants (a) liked the intervention, (b) reported behavior change intentions, and (c) found the feedback compelling. Findings from the pilot study suggest the intervention might be superior to referral only in increasing short-term help-seeking and lead to marginally significant enhancements in motivation and self-reported intimacy. Help-seeking and motivation findings were associated with medium-large to large effect sizes. At 3- and 6-month follow-up, both groups showed improvements in self-reported alcohol outcomes, anger, and verbal and physical aggression. These findings support further research on this intervention.     

A Brief Motivational Intervention for Treatment‐Refusing OCD Patients

Cognitive behavioral therapy involving exposure and response prevention (ERP) is the psychosocial treatment of choice for obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD). Despite this, ERP is not widely used by mental health practitioners, and so dissemination of ERP and other empirically supported treatment (ESTs) has become a priority. Even so, utilization of ESTs such as ERP remains below 50% even among therapists who self‐identify as having a cognitive behavioral orientation. Barriers to the acceptance of ERP include practical obstacles such as lack of training and the cost of treatment, but also patient variables such as treatment refusal. It has been estimated that approximately 25% of OCD patients refuse ERP. This paper describes a brief, 4‐session readiness intervention (RI) designed to decrease ERP refusal among patients with OCD. In this study, 12 patients with OCD who had refused ERP were randomized to RI or wait‐list (WL). 86% of participants in the RI condition and 20% of participants in WL condition agreed to begin ERP following the 4‐week period. ERP following RI, but not WL, was associated with a decrease in OCD symptoms comparable to that observed in OCD patients who did not refuse ERP. However, ERP following RI was associated with a high drop‐out rate (50%), a figure that exceeds that typically seen in OCD treatment studies. Techniques to reduce drop‐out as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

Police interview competencies: assessment and associated traits

The present study empirically examines the structure of police interview competencies in self‐reports of 230 police investigators suggesting five major underlying dimensions, that is, ‘Careful‐tenacious’, ‘Controlled‐non‐reactive’, ‘Dominant‐insisting’, ‘Communicative’ and ‘Benevolent’. These dimensions discriminate performance in a series of interview vignettes, grouped in terms of type of case (interviewing a suspect, a witness or a victim) and type of suspect. In addition self‐ratings on these dimensions are related to self‐estimated interview effectiveness in the same vignettes. Participants are further administered the NEO PI‐R (Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Professional manual: Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO‐PI‐R) and NEO five‐factor‐inventory (NEO‐FFI). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources), enabling an examination of the relationship between the competence dimensions and their personality trait building blocks. The implications of this study for the development and coaching of police interview competencies are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of different investigative interviewing techniques in generating differential recall enhancement and detecting deception

This study compared the Stepwise Interview, Cognitive Interview, and Reality Interview in detecting deception with inmates. The dependent measures were the amount of unique details provided during the free narrative and mnemonics and the number of words provided during the free narrative and mnemonics of each interview. The Stepwise Interview generated 58.3% accuracy, the Cognitive Interview generated 70.0% accuracy, and the Reality Interview generated 93.3% accuracy. The different tasks of these interviews increased the differences between honest and deceptive statements and therefore, increased the accuracy in detection of deception. Differential recall enhancement is used to explain the findings.