Motivational interviewing in child sexual abuse investigations: Approaches shown to increase suspect engagement and information gathering during police interviews

On average, more than 200 child sex offences were recorded by UK police every day in 2020, and investigations for offences including rape, online grooming and sexual assault against children in the United Kingdom (UK) increased by 57% from 2014/15 to 2019/20. The interview process is central to information gathering, but empirical research regarding the obtention of information through child sexual abuse (CSA) suspect interviewing is still limited. The current study analyses 45 hours of interviews with CSA suspects focusing on behaviours consistent (and inconsistent) with motivational interviewing (MI) using the Observing Rapport-Based Interpersonal Techniques coding manual. In line with previous research demonstrating the efficacy of MI with terrorist suspects, this article focuses on the same four key interviewer skills identified in the therapeutic literature (reflective listening, summarising, rolling with resistance and developing discrepancies). It looks at their effects on information yield (information of intelligence value) and suspect engagement. Results revealed that the four MI-consistent behaviours increased information gain. Also, approaches antithetical to MI (including assumptive questioning, judgemental summaries, fighting resistance and accusatory challenges) had a significant negative impact on suspect engagement and, by extension, reduced yield – potentially by creating suspect reactance (where the individual is motivated to regain a freedom they feel is being threatened). Hence, MI approaches are efficacious for information-gathering efforts, and using an approach antithetical to the spirit of motivational interviewing (like pressuring, confronting and judging) with CSA suspects will always make things worse

The conceptualisation and measurement of DSM-5 Internet Gaming Disorder: the development of the IGD-20 Test

Background: Over the last decade, there has been growing concern about ‘gaming addiction’ and its widely documented detrimental impacts on a minority of individuals that play excessively. The latest (fifth) edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) included nine criteria for the potential diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and noted that it was a condition that warranted further empirical study. Aim: The main aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable standardised psychometrically robust tool in addition to providing empirically supported cut-off points. Methods: A sample of 1003 gamers (85.2% males; mean age 26 years) from 57 different countries were recruited via online gaming forums. Validity was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), criterion-related validity, and concurrent validity. Latent profile analysis was also carried to distinguish disordered gamers from non-disordered gamers. Sensitivity and specificity analyses were performed to determine an empirical cut-off for the test. Results: The CFA confirmed the viability of IGD-20 Test with a six-factor structure (salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict and relapse) for the assessment of IGD according to the nine criteria from DSM-5. The IGD-20 Test proved to be valid and reliable. According to the latent profile analysis, 5.3% of the total participants were classed as disordered gamers. Additionally, an optimal empirical cut-off of 71 points (out of 100) seemed to be adequate according to the sensitivity and specificity analyses carried

Measurement invariance of the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS9-SF) across Albania, USA, UK, and Italy

The IGDS9-SF, which assesses Internet Gaming Disorder behaviors, has been validated in a number of countries (Portugal, Italy, Iran, Slovenia), although the psychometric equivalence of the instrument has been assessed only across Australia, the USA, the UK, and India. This research aimed at providing further cross-cultural insights into IGD by assessing the factorial structure of the IGDS9-SF in Albania and investigating its measurement invariance across Albanian, Italian, American, and British gamers. Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analyses were performed on a sample of 1411 participants from Albania (n=228), USA (n=237), the UK (n=275), and Italy (n=671). The CFAs confirmed the single-factor structure in the four countries. Measurement invariance supported the configural invariance and partially supported the metric and scalar invariance. Overall, the findings provided evidence for the underlying factor assessing IGD across the countries, although the specific meaning of the construct was non-identical

The screens culture: impact on ADHD

Children’s use of electronic media, including Internet and video gaming, has increased dramatically to an average in the general population of roughly 3 h per day. Some children cannot control their Internet use leading to increasing research on “internet addiction.” The objective of this article is to review the research on ADHD as a risk factor for Internet addiction and gaming, its complications, and what research and methodological questions remain to be addressed. The literature search was done in PubMed and Psychinfo, as well as by hand. Previous research has demonstrated rates of Internet addiction as high as 25% in the population and that it is addiction more than time of use that is best correlated with psychopathology. Various studies confirm that psychiatric disorders, and ADHD in particular, are associated with overuse, with severity of ADHD specifically correlated with the amount of use. ADHD children may be vulnerable since these games operate in brief segments that are not attention demanding. In addition, they offer immediate rewards with a strong incentive to increase the reward by trying the next level. The time spent on these games may also exacerbate ADHD symptoms, if not directly then through the loss of time spent on more developmentally challenging tasks. While this is a major issue for many parents, there is no empirical research on effective treatment. Internet and off-line gaming overuse and addiction are serious concerns for ADHD youth. Research is limited by the lack of measures for youth or parents, studies of children at risk, and studies of impact and treatment