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The Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV) is a risk assessment instrument for adolescents that estimates the risk of multiple adverse outcomes. Prior research into its predictive validity is limited to a handful of studies conducted with the START:AV pilot version and often by the instrument's developers. The present study examines the START:AV's field validity in a secure youth care sample in the Netherlands. Using a prospective design, we investigated whether the total scores, lifetime history, and the final risk judgments of 106 START:AVs predicted inpatient incidents during a 4-month follow-up. Final risk judgments and lifetime history predicted multiple adverse outcomes, including physical aggression, institutional violations, substance use, self-injury, and victimization. The predictive validity of the total scores was significant only for physical aggression and institutional violations. Hence, the short-term predictive validity of the START:AV for inpatient incidents in a residential youth care setting was partially demonstrated and the START:AV final risk judgments can be used to guide treatment planning and decision-making regarding furlough or discharge in this setting. ispartof: ASSESSMENT vol:30 issue:3 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Public Significance Statement This meta-analysis shows that the Structured Assessment of Protective Factors for violence risk (SAPROF), a risk assessment tool that focuses exclusively on protective factors, can significantly predict the absence of violent behavior in an institution and after discharge into the community. It highlights the importance of adding dynamic protective factors to structured risk assessment to lower the risk of future violence.Although the inclusion of protective factors in risk assessment is believed to improve prediction, most risk assessment tools emphasize risk factors. In response, the Structured Assessment of Protective Factors for violence risk (SAPROF) has been developed, which focuses exclusively on protective factors and is used in conjunction with a structured risk assessment tool. It has received increasing attention from both researchers and forensic mental health practitioners, and additional versions have been developed for use with adolescents (SAPROF-YV) and sex offenders (SAPROF-SO). To assess their psychometric performance, we conducted a meta-analysis of validation studies. Our final sample included 39 articles with 5,434 subjects from 16 countries. Overall, the SAPROF(-YV/-SO) showed good interrater reliability and moderate-to-good predictive performance for the absence of recidivism and institutional misconduct. All three instruments exhibited incremental validity when used in conjunction with a risk-focused assessment tool. Our meta-analysis additionally showed that changes on the SAPROF are associated with decreased violent and general recidivism after controlling for baseline risk. We also uncovered several shortcomings in current research with the SAPROF(-YV/-SO). Studies did not report calibration indices and most studies were retrospective and limited to male offenders. The present findings provide support for the relevance of protective factors in risk assessment, but future research should focus on their hypothesized role in treatment and risk management.

This qualitative study investigated which types of interventions are made by group therapists during group cognitive-behavioral therapy (GCBT) with individuals who have perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV) in the "Not 'Losing It' Anymore"(NLIA) outpatient programs across the Netherlands. Audio recordings of group sessions (N = 60) facilitated by 13 co-therapist teams across 25 different groups were analyzed using the general inductive approach. Fifteen distinct therapist interventions were identified, categorized, and described using examples from the data. Two categories of interventions could be distinguished: CBT interventions and process-oriented interventions. In future research the coding manual can be tested for interrater reliability and might be used in research on the effectiveness of GCBT therapist interventions.

In order to prevent future child abuse, it is important to implement appropriate treatment according to risk factors present within a family. These principles are described in the risk-need-responsivity (RNR) model. We investigated 192 case files from Dutch child protective services on reported risk factors. We hypothesised that important risk factors (relating to parents and parent-child interaction) would often be absent from the case files. This expectation was confirmed, indicating that the RNR model cannot be used as intended. We provide recommendations to incorporate more evidence-based methods in child protective services.Risk assessment is an essential aspect of child abuse investigations in order to estimate the risk of future abuse and to develop a risk management and intervention plan. According to the risk-need-responsivity model, intervention and risk monitoring needs to target dynamic risk factors to prevent future child maltreatment. In the current study, we examined whether child protection workers in the Netherlands focus on evidence-based risk factors for child maltreatment. We investigated 192 case files retrospectively for risk factors included in the Child Abuse Risk Evaluation-NL, a structured risk assessment instrument. We expected to find limited information concerning parental risk factors and risk factors related to parent-child interaction, but more information on family and child factors. These hypotheses were confirmed. Because parental and parent-child interaction factors are the most important and proximal risk factors for child abuse, our findings point to a large gap between science and child protection practice. We recommend the use of a structured risk assessment instrument and a risk-focused approach to intervention planning.

This special issue addresses a major gap in the literature by providing comprehensive, credible reviews of the psychometric evidence for and legal status of some of the most commonly-used psychological and personality assessment measures used in forensic evaluations. It responds to Neal and colleagues' (2019) call for research to improve the state of and access to knowledge about psychological assessments in legal contexts, and encourages critical thinking about forensic assessment in the spirit of improvement. These articles offer clarity about the strengths and weaknesses of a number of assessment instruments to inform psychologists' preparation for expert testimony, lawyers' preparation for direct and cross-examination, judges' evidence admissibility determinations, and scholars' future research. We assembled teams of authors with different perspectives and areas of expertise to review each tool fairly, including several adversarial collaborations. Articles on the Rorschach and R-PAS, MMPI-3, PCL-R, MCMI-IV and MACI-II, PAI and PAI-A, SIRS-2, HCR-20V3, TSI and TSI-2, and the MacCAT-CA, ECST-R, and CAST*MR are included. To increase visibility, accessibility, and impact, this issue is published as free access, meaning the articles are available to download without charge. We anticipate these articles will be widely read and useful to scholars and practitioners in both psychology and law.

The special issue editors selected us to form an "adversarial collaboration" because our publications and teaching encompass both supportive and critical attitudes toward the Rorschach and its recently developed system for use, the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS). We reviewed the research literature and case law to determine if the Rorschach and specifically R-PAS meet legal standards for admissibility in court. We included evidence on norms, reliability, validity, utility, general acceptance, forensic evaluator use, and response style assessment, as well as United States and selected European case law addressing challenges to mental examination motions, admissibility, and weight. Compared to other psychological tests, the Rorschach is not challenged at unusually high rates. Although the recently introduced R-PAS is not widely referenced in case law, evidence suggests that information from it is likely to be ruled admissible when used by a competent evaluator and selected variables yield scores that are sufficiently reliable and valid to evaluate psychological processes that inform functional psycholegal capacities. We identify effective and ethical but also inappropriate uses (e.g., psychological profiling) of R-PAS in criminal, civil, juvenile, and family court. We recommend specific research to clarify important aspects of R-PAS and advance its utility in forensic mental health assessment.

In the Netherlands, there is currently no quality standard for conducting child forensic interviews in Child Protective Services (CPS) . The lack of such standard causes concern regarding the quality of these interviews, which are used to determine the child's safety and implementing treatment. In the current study, we implemented the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) protocol at Safe Home, the Dutch national reporting agency for child abuse and domestic violence. Professionals at Safe Home received a three-day training in the NICHD protocol with regular follow-up feedback sessions. We compared 38 NICHD interviews with 30 control interviews on variables such as the type of questions asked, number of reported words, and children's mood state. NICHD interviews contained more invitations and fewer suggestive questions compared to non-standardized interviews. Furthermore, children reported more information related to the reported incident when they were interviewed with the NICHD protocol compared to control interviews. After being interviewed, children reported a more positive mood state independent of how they were interviewed (NICHD or control interview). Finally, children interviewed with the NICHD protocol were less likely to succumb to suggestive probes provided after the interview than children in the control group. We argue that child protection professionals need training in an evidence-based interview protocol to improve fact-finding in CPS.

Children who are involved in legal cases are often interviewed about events they witnessed or that might have happened to them. Occasionally, after such interviews, children are confronted with misinformation regarding their experiences. The question that arises is whether their earlier interviews may protect them from reporting misinformation. The goal of the present experiment was to assess whether empirically based interviewing by means of the National Institute for Child Health and Development (NICHD) Protocol would affect the reporting of misinformation in children. Children were involved in an interactive event (i.e., science demonstration). Following this, three experimental groups were created: one group was interviewed using the NICHD Protocol, one group had to freely recall what they experienced, and one group was not asked to retrieve any memories about the event. Next, all children received misinformation concerning the event and were then subjected to a final memory test. We found that children’s recall during the NICHD interview protected children against the incorporation of misinformation in their accounts of the event. This effect was absent in the other two conditions. The current experiment suggests that evidence-based investigative interviewing can inoculate children’s memory against the corrupting impact of misinformation.

Since January 2015, Safe Home [in Dutch: Veilig Thuis] is the national reportcenter for child abuse and domestic violence. The task of Safe Home and itspartner organizations is to stop child abuse and domestic violence. The Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model states that to reduce the chance for harmfulbehaviors in the future, relevant risk factors should be addressed in individualcases. Offered treatment programs should also be attuned to these riskfactors (which is known as risk-based care). The offered risk-based care doesnot always correspond to the request of the family in question.In the current study the main question was how it is determined which treatmentprogram or care is offered by the municipalities to families after theinvestigation of Safe Home is completed and a case is transferred to the localmunicipality. We interviewed professionals from six municipalities in the regionof South-Limburg about the use of structured risk assessment tools andthe effectiveness of offered treatment programs. We found that the choicefor certain treatment programs is mainly based on the family’s request (andnot risk-based, as suggested by the RNR-model). Moreover, the municipalitiesmake limited use of risk assessment tools that meet scientific standards.In order to stop child abuse in the long term, a radical change is needed inthe approach of child abuse cases. We offer several recommendations, includingthe use of scientifically validated risk assessment tools and a closercooperation and exchange of information between Safe Home and its partnerorganizations.

Abstract. Over the years, a significant number of Rorschach studies have been conducted with forensic adult and adolescent samples, partly motivated by the use of the test in forensic psychological evaluations. Could the Rorschach, as a performance-based personality assessment tool, provide unique information that is not as vulnerable to distortion on the part of the examinee as self-report measures are? This article provides a review of Rorschach studies on relevant Rorschach variables, including those with different forensic samples. Empirical findings are mixed; there is not a one-on-one relationship between certain Rorschach variables and forensically relevant traits, such as psychopathy or hostility. This does not mean the Rorschach cannot provide useful information in answering psychological questions before the court. A case illustration of a male college student, who committed a (first) violent offense, illustrates the unique contribution of the Rorschach for understanding the psychological dynamics behind a violent act that was seemingly out of character.

We report findings from a survey of Dutch forensic mental health practitioners (N = 110) about use and the perceived utility of specific structured risk assessment instruments (SRAIs) for forensic risk evaluations (FREs). Overall, respondents’ views of specific SRAIs were positive. They had concerns about potential bias and errors in FREs. Yet, contrary to prior surveys, we found no evidence for the tendency to think of oneself as less prone to bias than others, known as the bias blind spot. Similar to previous surveys, our respondents also endorsed introspection as an effective method to mitigate bias, whereas research indicates it is not. Finally, they rated SRAIs as the most effective debiasing strategy. We found few differences in beliefs about bias or debiasing strategies between respondents who had cognitive bias training and those who had not, suggesting the need for research to gain insight into effective debiasing strategies and the development of specific forensic bias training.

There is emerging evidence that the performance of risk assessment instruments is weaker when used for clinical decision‐making than for research purposes. For instance, research has found lower agreement between evaluators when the risk assessments are conducted during routine practice. We examined the field interrater reliability of the Short‐Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV). Clinicians in a Dutch secure youth care facility completed START:AV assessments as part of the treatment routine. Consistent with previous literature, interrater reliability of the items and total scores was lower than previously reported in non‐field studies. Nevertheless, moderate to good interrater reliability was found for final risk judgments on most adverse outcomes. Field studies provide insights into the actual performance of structured risk assessment in real‐world settings, exposing factors that affect reliability. This information is relevant for those who wish to implement structured risk assessment with a level of reliability that is defensible considering the high stakes.

High Conflict Divorce as a Complex Family Problem: Why Domestic Violence Screening is Essential High Conflict Divorce form 20% of separations that involve children. These parents continue to litigate child custody and parenting arrangements, and accuse each other of child abuse, intimate partner violence, and mental health problems. The children suffer because of longstanding animosity. In this contribution, we report on a pilot study among 102 parents in a high conflict divorce, assessed at the Child Protection Council, Safe Home, or a child welfare service. The MASIC, a structured screening interview for intimate partner violence (IPV), was administered to each parent separately. Results revealed that the prevalence of different types of IPV was extremely high in our sample, and the violence kept occurring after the divorce, albeit somewhat less frequently. Our findings largely concur with international research in this area. In particular, the presence of coercive controlling violence perpetrated by one of the ex-partners, should prompt the professional to conduct further evaluation of parental and child safety. The type of IPV that emerges from the MASIC screening has implications for the advice to the parents and the family court.

An effective implementation approach is crucial for successful integration of structured risk assessment instruments into practice. This qualitative study explored barriers and facilitators to the implementation of the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV) in a Dutch residential youth care service. Perceptions of staff members from various disciplines were gathered through focus group interviews at three consecutive occasions. After inductive coding of the interview extracts using thematic analysis, the identified codes were linked to the consolidated framework for implementation research. Through this framework, factors that influence an implementation project can be organized into multiple domains and constructs. In the present study, staff members described implementation barriers related to characteristics of the risk assessment instrument, staff, and the implementation process. In addition, features of the setting were frequently mentioned as hindering the implementation, such as hierarchy, culture, communication, as well as implementation climate and readiness for change. Staff members also identified multiple facilitators, such as experienced advantages of the START:AV compared to the previous risk assessment practice and positive beliefs about the instrument. The article concludes with recommendations for successful implementation of structured risk assessment instruments in forensic-clinical practice.

The present quasi-experimental study examined the impact of a brief training program based on the risk–need–responsivity (RNR) model on Turkish juvenile probation officers' (JPOs) punitive and rehabilitative attitudes toward justice-involved youth and recidivism risk perceptions. Fifty-nine JPOs were recruited through three probation offices in Istanbul, Turkey. Thirty-six JPOs, who received a 1-day training in the RNR model of offending behavior, were compared to JPOs in a wait-list control condition (n = 23). Participants in both conditions completed surveys at baseline and 1-week posttraining. Mixed-factorial analysis of variances revealed a significantly higher decrease in JPOs' punitive attitudes from pre- to posttest, in the training condition compared to the control group, with a medium effect size. Rehabilitative attitudes decreased in both conditions, while recidivism risk perceptions did not change from pre- to posttest in either condition. Future research could expand on these promising results using a more intensive training program and a randomized-controlled design in a larger sample of JPOs., NA

A recent offender rehabilitation theory, the ‘Good Lives Model’ (GLM), states that effective interventions should not only focus on risk factors, but also on improving well-being by meeting a universal set of human needs, such as relatedness with friends and family, inner peace and excellence in agency, called ‘primary goods’. Little empirical research however exists examining the GLM's underlying etiological assumptions, especially for youngsters. Due to their developmental phase, adolescents may have different needs or they may prioritize them differently compared to adults. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of the existing literature on adolescent well-being. A multi-level meta-analysis was conducted to assess the extent to which the 11 GLM primary goods are related to overall subjective well-being in adolescents. We systematically searched databases for terms related to well-being and adolescence, resulting in 139 publications included in the meta-analysis. Almost all of the GLM primary goods were related to subjective well-being in adolescents. Some goods however may be more salient or manifest themselves differently in this particular development phase. Offender rehabilitation interventions should carefully assess which primary goods are important for the youngster, how they (try to) achieve them and in which way the goods are related to their delinquent behavior.

This preregistered experiment aimed to investigate the impact of backgroundinformation regarding an alleged victim of child sexual abuse onpolice investigators’ perception of the credibility of the victim’s statement,expected case outcome, and the type of questions police investigatorsplan to ask the victim in an investigative interview. We expected that theage and the description of the alleged victim’s character would affectperceived credibility, prediction of case prosecution and the use of biasedquestions in the interview plan. Indonesian police investigators (N = 369)read a case vignette of either a 5- or a 15-year-old female victim of childsexual abuse, including either a good character, bad character, or nocharacter information. Participants receiving the story of the 15-year-oldalleged victim perceived the victim as having contributed more to thecrime, predicted the case as more likely to be withdrawn and includedmore biased questions in their interview plans than those who receivedthe story of a 5-year-old alleged victim. Moreover, participants being toldthat the alleged victim had a bad character perceived her statement asless reliable, having contributed more to the crime, predicted the case asmore likely to be withdrawn or dropped-out than those who receivedinformation about the alleged victim with a good character. We did notfind any effect of our background information manipulation on the perceptionof suspect guilt, and on the estimated likelihood of the allegationbeing confirmed by corroborative evidence or being prosecuted. Thecurrent findings suggest that background information can negativelyaffect police investigators’ judgment and decision-making when workingon a child sexual abuse case.

The Child Abuse Risk Evaluation – Dutch version (CARE-NL) is a structured professional guideline for assessing the risk of all types of child abuse. The CARE-NL comprises 18 risk factors: eight Parental characteristics, three Parent-Child interaction factors, five Family factors, one Child vulnerability factor, and an extra factor for child sexual abuse risk. We examined interrater reliability and predictive accuracy of the instrument in a retrospective study at Advice and Reporting Centers on Child Abuse (ARCCA) in The Netherlands. The ARCCA files contained limited information on Parental risk factors, while parental characteristics, such as mental disorder and substance abuse, are the most important risk factors for repeated) child abuse. On the other hand, the majority of the files included ample information on child and family characteristics. The CARE-NL could be reliably coded by trained raters and the predictive accuracy for out-of-home placement (AUC = .73) and placement of the child under court supervision (AUC = .78), at two years follow-up, was adequate. Use of the CARE-NL ensures that the assessment of the risk of child abuse focuses on the most important, empiricallybased risk factors in a structured and coherent way.

Currently, implementation research in the field of forensic risk assessment is limited and consensus on "implementation success" is lacking. This study applies outcomes of success from implementation science to the implementation evaluation of the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV) in a residential youth care facility in the Netherlands. Staff perceptions on the implementation and the instrument were assessed using 5 implementation outcomes in a longitudinal multimethod design: acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, feasibility, and penetration. As anticipated, the majority of staff perceived START:AV core constructs as useful for treatment (appropriateness). However, satisfaction with the instrument decreased over time (acceptability). This was likely due to an increased workload (feasibility). Despite this dissatisfaction, the completion rate was acceptable (adoption). Lastly, staff reported a lack of integration of the START:AV findings in clinical case conferences (penetration). The implementation outcomes aid in identifying areas for improvement, which in turn can lead to an increased and more consistent uptake of structured risk assessment into routine practice.

Early detection of child abuse risk factors in families of new-born babies is an important task of the public youth health care system in the Netherlands. The Early Risks of Physical Abuse and Neglect Scale (ERPANS) was originally developed in Belgium as an observation scale for public child healthcare nurses. The present longitudinal study is an independent prospective validation of the ERPANS in a Dutch community sample (N = 1257) of families with a new-born. Results showed a commonality of underlying subsets of items belonging to the 'Disturbed parent-child relationship' and 'Psychological problems' factors, but the factor 'Communication problems' of the original ERPANS could not be replicated. We found that parental psychological problems were a significant predictor of family problems, including involvement of child protection authorities, at an average follow-up of 22 months. Parents who reported feeling unloved by their own parents were at higher risk of reports of serious concern to child protection authorities at 22 months after birth. These findings support the utility of at least a subset of the ERPANS items as a screening tool for child abuse risk in preventive public youth health care for new-born babies. Our research adds to a growing body of evidence which points to the importance of parental mental health problems and adverse childhood experiences as precursors to child abuse risk.

The goal of the current study was to investigate individual-level factors associated with job burnout among probation officers (POs) and, specifically, to examine if attitudes toward probationers were linked with job burnout in the context of the recently established probation system in Turkey. Participants (N = 115) were recruited from a probation office in Istanbul. Job burnout was assessed via three components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and professional accomplishment. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that more favorable attitudes toward probationers were related to a lower sense of depersonalization and higher experience of professional accomplishment. However, POs' attitudes toward probationers were not associated with emotional exhaustion. Our findings are discussed in light of the present empirical literature on the contextual factors influential in job burnout. Practical implications for burnout prevention point to the potential effectiveness of working on attitudes among POs toward the people they supervise., Koç University Seed Grant; Koç University College of Social Sciences and Humanities

SummaryThe HCR-20 has taken on a life of its own. In forensic services it has been elevated from helpful aide-mémoire into a prophetic tool worthy of Nostradamus himself. Almost every outcome is interpreted through it. Despite the evidence of its limited utility, the difficulties of predicting rare events, the narrative fallacies and other heuristic biases it creates, and the massive opportunity costs it entails, commissioners and services alike mandate its use. Yet in routine practice the problems are not acknowledged, multiple conflicts of interest lie unobserved and other opportunities are neglected.

The reliability of children’s testimonies Children’s testimonies about abusive experiences can play a pivotal role in the criminal justice system. This is especially the case when other types of evidence (such as videos, technical traces) are absent. In such cases, it is imperative that children’s testimonies accurately reflect what they have experienced. In the current article, the reliability of children’s statements is discussed. We discuss what children can remember of traumatic incidents and elaborate on how children’s false memories can be relatively easily evoked. Furthermore, we discuss how children can best be interviewed using scientifically supported interview protocols. Children’s testimonies can be decisive in legal decision-making. Hence, it is of the utmost importance that these statements are reliable.

Most of the foregoing research on child investigative interviewing has focused on interview practices in Western countries, thus potentially limiting the generalizability and application of the findings to improve interview practices in non-Western countries. The current studies are the first to examine police interviewing practices involving alleged child sexual abuse (CSA) victims in Indonesia which has marked cultural differences compared with Western countries. In Study 1, we presented Indonesian police child interviewers (N = 26) with a sexual abuse case vignette concerning a 7-year-old girl. Police interviewers were asked to write down the questions they would pose to the child. We categorized questions into four types: open-prompts, directives, option-posing, and suggestive. In Study 2, we examined Indonesian police files (N = 24) containing child sexual abuse interviews and also scored the type of questions used as per the first study. We compared our data with those obtained in Western countries. The consistent finding in both studies is that Indonesian police interviewers rarely used open-prompts, asked more directive and option-posing questions. Consistent with findings from Western countries, our studies provide indirect evidence that open-prompts may be infrequently used by forensic child interviewers in Indonesia.

Previous research has shown that mock and actual jurors give little weight to actuarial sexual offending recidivism risk estimates when making decisions regarding civil commitment for so-called sexually violent predators (SVPs). We hypothesized that non-risk related factors, such as irrelevant contextual information and jurors' information-processing style, would influence mock jurors' perceptions of sexual recidivism risk. This preregistered experimental study examined the effects of mock jurors' (N = 427) need for cognition (NFC), irrelevant contextual information in the form of the offender's social attractiveness, and an actuarial risk estimate on mock jurors' estimates of sexual recidivism risk related to a simulated SVP case vignette. Mock jurors exposed to negative risk-irrelevant characteristics of the offender estimated sexual recidivism risk as higher than mock jurors exposed to positive information about the offender. However, this effect was no longer significant after mock jurors had reviewed Static-99R actuarial risk estimate information. We found no support for the hypothesis that the level of NFC moderates the relationship between risk-irrelevant contextual information and risk estimates. Future research could explore additional individual characteristics or attitudes among mock jurors that may influence perceptions of sexual recidivism risk and insensitivity to actuarial risk estimates.

De meeste risicotaxatie-instrumenten voor jongeren in de jeugdzorg beoordelen het risico op één schadelijke uitkomst, zoals gewelddadig gedrag. Maar er zijn meer soorten risicovol gedrag. De short-term assessment of risk and treatability: adolescenten versie (start:av) beoordeelt zowel het risico op dader- als slachtofferschap.

Research has demonstrated that adequate parenting is an important determinant of a healthy social-emotional development in children. There is a need for valid assessment tools for measuring parenting quality, particularly in clinical settings. The Caregiver Wish List (CWL) is a new 53-item interview-based scale for assessing parenting practices. We examined the CWL’s factor structure in a sample of 348 parents of children (4-11 years), 220 were drawn from the general population and 128 from a clinical setting. Exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors, which did not fully correspond with the hypothesized, original factor structure. Nonetheless, the extracted factors were meaningful and could be labeled as follows: adequate discipline, controlled responding, focus on positive behavior, consistency , and monitoring . All factors demonstrated adequate internal consistency. The factor structures in community and clinical samples were comparable, supporting the generalizability of the factor structure. Furthermore, the factors differentiated between community and clinical samples, with better parenting skills observed in the community sample. Finally, all factors were significantly and negatively related to child psychopathology, with stronger correlations for externalizing than for internalizing problems. Only 23 of the 53 original CWL items loaded on at least one of the five factors, indicating that the original CWL can probably be reduced in length without losing important content. Future research needs to examine if the extracted CWL factors are sensitive to change. The CWL’s interview format provides opportunities for rapport building between parent and interviewer, and for reflection on parenting skills in terms of strengths and vulnerabilities.

In dit onderzoek werd de invloed van de omgeving van een politiecellencomplex op het psychologisch welzijn en slaapproblemen van verdachten onderzocht. Resultaten tonen aan dat verdachten in een politiecel een verminderd psychologisch welzijn ervaren, dat zij slechter slapen, en dat een verminderd psychisch welzijn is gerelateerd aan slaapproblemen. Consequenties van het verblijf in politiecellencomplexen voor het psychisch welzijn en de slaapproblemen van verdachten, alsmede richtingen voor verder onderzoek naar omstandigheden in politiecellencomplexen, worden besproken.

Until now, most of our knowledge regarding sex trafficking comes from studies of victims. Only a limited number of empirical studies have focused on those who conduct the business of sex trafficking. This article examined sex traffickers’ perceptions of the victim–offender relationship. Using a grounded theory approach, verbatim interviews with sex traffickers were analyzed. Four major themes emerged: perceptions of the initiative, the (victim–offender) relationship, their own role and work methods, and on the victims who reported to the police. The results provide a complex picture that shows variations in relationships, roles, and work (control) methods over time within the same victim–trafficker dyad as well as between individual sex traffickers.

The most recent conceptualizations of empathy recognize affective empathy as distinct from cognitive empathy. Consequently, instruments that assess these 2 types of empathy have been developed. Among them, the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) is a particularly promising, relatively new, self-report measure consisting of 31 items. To examine the cross-cultural adaptability of the QCAE, we investigated the psychometric properties of an Italian version in 2 samples and with 2 different formats of administration. Study 1 (n = 407) used archival data collected via paper and pencil; Study 2 (n = 285) used newly collected data, obtained with an online format. In these studies, in addition to the QCAE, 6 other instruments measuring empathy-related constructs (i.e., interpersonal competence, well-being, personality traits, emotion regulation, alexithymia, and emotion recognition) were administered, too. Data analysis focused on factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent validity. The findings of both studies provide support for the cross-cultural applicability of the QCAE, and reveal interesting associations between empathy and the other constructs under examination.

Expert witnesses can play a major role in legal cases concerning the reliability of statements. Abuse cases frequently contain only the memories of eyewitnesses/victims without the presence of physical evidence. Here, it is of the utmost importance that expert witnesses use scientific evidence for their expert opinion. In this case report, a case is described in which 20 children reported being sexually abused by the same teachers at their elementary school. The investigative steps that were taken by the police and school authorities are reviewed, including how they probably affected memory. In order to provide a sound expert opinion regarding the reliability of these statements, three recommendations are proposed. To reduce the effect of confirmation bias and increase objectivity, it is argued that expert witnesses' reports should contain alternative scenarios, be checked by another expert, and focus on the origin and context of the first statement.

© 2019 The Authors Applied Cognitive Psychology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Using evidence-based guidelines to interview children is an important means to obtain complete and accurate accounts. In the current study, we examined the quality of child investigative interviewing in the Netherlands. To examine this, we compared the Dutch Scenario Model with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Protocol and interviews from countries that did not follow a specific protocol. Our principal result was that Dutch child interviewers rarely asked recommended open prompts that are known to elicit detailed and accurate testimonies from children. Furthermore, we found that the scenario model contained the highest number of directive questions compared with interviews from other countries. Our findings show that the Dutch Scenario Model is not well aligned with current research-based recommendations for interviewing children. ispartof: Applied Cognitive Psychology vol:33 issue:5 pages:889-897 status: published

ispartof: APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY vol:33 issue:5 pages:901-903 status: published

The Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory–Short Form (YPI-S) is a convenient measure for assessing psychopathy in settings with constraints on resources. However, the YPI-S does not contain a means of detecting careless or random response styles. The present study describes the development and evaluation of an inconsistent responding scale for the YPI-S using five archival samples that vary in language (English, German, Italian, Dutch) and other participant characteristics (juvenile offenders, adolescent students). Inconsistency scores resulting from the new scale effectively distinguished genuine participant responses from randomly generated cases (area under the ROC curve [AUC] = .85-.90) and from cases in which 50% of original responses were replaced with random data (AUC = .75-.82). The associations between the YPI-S and theoretically relevant correlates were reduced among participants exceeding proposed cutoff scores for profile validity compared with associations among more consistent respondents.

This study examined the perceived costs, benefits, and motivations for participating in individual trauma-focused interviews among forensic psychiatric patients ( N = 74). The majority of our participants were male, and 100% endorsed adverse childhood experiences (e.g., abuse, neglect) or exposure to potentially traumatic events (e.g., assault). Levels of posttraumatic avoidance (41.9%), reexperiencing (59.5%), and increased arousal (51.3%) were high. In line with previous studies, our findings suggest an overall positive research experience in this sample. In spite of extensive histories of lifetime victimization we did not find an association between victimization, posttraumatic symptomatology, and a negative research experience. Our findings suggest that participation in trauma-focused research is not only possible with, but also potentially beneficial for forensic patients.