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Investigative interviewers assess their colleagues' interviews (‘peer review’) as a necessary part of their practice, and for their self-development. Yet, there is little guidance around what the process involves and how they might do it. Research suggests that effective peer review is supported by using guidance material. The goal of the present work was to describe the use of such a guide by a group of professionals who regularly conduct investigative interviews with children, to share what was learned with other professionals seeking to create a formalized peer review process.

Sixty US child witness interviewers completed a guided peer review assessment of an anonymous interview, as an assignment at the conclusion of an 18-hour training program that focused on developing their interviewing skills. They consented to the use of their learning data in research, and the research was approved by the university's research ethics board. Peer reviews were coded for the extent to which they used the guide to support their evaluations, and the overall quality of the review to assess the utility of the guide in supporting them to conduct effective assessments.

In general, the guide and instructions for providing feedback were moderately effective in supporting the peer assessments, but results suggested specific training in how to deliver peer review would be useful.

Through this process, the authors identified components that would be helpful to further increase the efficacy of peer review.

The aim of this work was to spark a greater conversation among practitioners and academics about professionalizing the peer review process and aiding interviewers to develop peer review tools that would support their continued growth. The authors conclude with five key tips for professionals that stem from the experiences creating and evaluating the guide in combination with existing literature and three areas for future investigation.

Simulated child interviews, where adults play the role of a child witness for trainee investigative interviewers, are an essential tool used to train investigators to adhere to non‐leading, open‐ended questions. The aim of this study is to examine whether the use of a training procedure that guides persons playing the role of a child in simulated interviews results in interviewees producing more coherent narratives (measured by the number of story grammar details).

A total of 80 police officers individually engaged in ten‐minute interviews, whereby an untrained (colleague), or trained respondent, played the role of the child interviewee. For each child respondent condition, the interviews varied according to child age (five or eight years).

As predicted, trained respondents reported a higher proportion of story grammar elements and a lower proportion of contextual information than the untrained respondents, as well as more story grammar elements in response to open‐ended questions. However, there were limitations in how well both groups tailored their story grammar to the age of the child they were representing.

These findings demonstrate that our training procedure promotes a more coherent interviewee account, and facilitates a response style that is more reinforcing of open‐ended questions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine police officers' perceptions about their role in interviewing children, and to compare these perceptions with those of child eyewitness memory experts.

A diverse sample of 23 police officers (from three states of Australia) individually participated in in‐depth interviews where they were asked to define what makes a good interviewer in the area of child abuse investigation.

Irrespective of the background of the officers, the important role of interviewers' personal attributes was emphasised (e.g. having a relaxed, empathetic, warm nature). Such personal attributes were more prominent in the participants' descriptions than knowledge of legislation and children's development, prior job experience, and interviewing techniques.

The paper shows that while child eyewitness memory experts acknowledge the importance of establishing a bond of mutual trust between the interviewer and the child, the importance of utilising an open‐ended questioning style for enhancing rapport, and for eliciting a detailed and accurate account of abuse cannot be overstated. The possible reasons for the police officers' emphasis on personal qualities are discussed.

This paper has revealed that limitations in the competency of police officers in interviewing children is not merely a problem of “doing” (i.e. learning to ask open‐ended questions), but may also reflect ingrained attitudinal and organisational barriers.

Interviewing victims of child sex abuse requires considerable care in order to minimise error. Due to children’s heightened suggestibility any question asked of a child could potentially incite error that could undermine the witness’s credibility. A focus group was conducted in order to facilitate the development of guidance for interviewers around the circumstances in which it is necessary to ask children follow-up questions in an interview. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Seven Crown prosecutors representing every Australian state and territory (with the exception of one small state) were issued with 25 hypothetical narrative accounts of child abuse and asked to indicate what information, if any, required follow-up in the child’s narrative. Their responses and rationale for requiring following up in some cases and not others were discussed.

Thematic analysis revealed three recommendations to guide questioning: whether the case involved identification or recognition evidence; the presence of contextual features that may influence the witness’s memory, or that should trigger a particular line of questioning; and whether the information can or should be sought at a later stage by the trial prosecutor, rather than by the interviewer.

The recommendations are discussed within the context of their implications for interviewing, that is, how each recommendation could be implemented in practice.

The present study extends prior literature by elucidating principles to guide decision making across interview topic areas. The need for such guidance is highlighted by research suggesting that topics such as offender identity, offence time and place, and witnesses are a source of overzealous questioning in interviews.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of leading questions used by a representative sample of investigative interviewers of children. In particular, it examined whether these interviewers use the type of questions that are known to elicit reports of false activities or events among child samples.

A total of 82 police officers who were authorized to conduct interviews with alleged child abuse victims conducted individual mock interviews with children aged 5‐7 years. The focus of the interviews was an event that was staged in the children's school a week earlier. Prior to the interview, each officer was provided with accurate and inaccurate information about the event, including details about an activity that did not occur. The officers' task was to elicit as detailed and accurate account of the event as possible using the techniques they would “normally” use in the field.

Although the officers refrained from using coercive interview techniques, two problematic types of questions were relatively common. These include: questions that presumed that an activity/detail occurred that had not been previously mentioned by the child; and questions that included highly specific details about an activity. Both of these techniques had featured in prior laboratory research on children's false event narratives.

These results support the need for better training techniques for assisting officers to avoid the use of leading questions.

While it is well established that investigative interviewers do sometimes use leading questions when interviewing children, this is the first study to specify the incidence of various types of leading questions.

The purpose of this study is to identify the nature and prevalence of workplace stressors faced by interviewers of child sexual assault victims.

Totally, 68 professionals (police and child protection workers) were invited to anonymously post their perceptions of workplace stressors on an internet forum as part of an investigative interviewing online training course. Specifically, participants were asked to reflect on salient sources of stress encountered in their role of interviewing sexually abused children.

Three key stressors were identified across the study's professional groups: inadequate recognition of specialised skills; high‐workload demands; and interagency tensions. Consistent with previous research, exposure to child‐abuse reports was not raised as a stressor.

The study generated suggestions for modifying management practices; however, future research should identify and trial strategies for improving workplace climate in child‐abuse investigation.

As the stressors isolated by participants related to workplace climate rather than exposure to victims’ accounts of child abuse, minimising negative consequences of work stressors requires changes to workplace culture and practice. Workplace climates need to be modified so that the demands are offset by resources.

Because of its online, anonymous nature, this was the first study to offer participants the opportunity to honestly disclose primary sources of stress in child‐abuse investigation. The research also makes a much‐needed contribution to an area of police practice that is vital yet often overlooked.

The purpose of this paper is to explore police officers’ perceptions of the challenges and work stressors of working in Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) investigation.

Participants were a heterogeneous sample of 32 ICE investigators across nine Australian jurisdictions. Officers’ perceptions of ICE work were elicited via individual, open-ended, anonymous, telephone interviews, which focused on both the nature and impact of work-related stressors and challenges.

Thematic analysis revealed that viewing ICE material was not perceived to be a major stressor or particularly traumatic facet of ICE investigation. Rather, the challenges related to three areas; work relationships, workload and resources and the physical environment. Participants also suggested some improvements to their work environment which could reduce the impact of these challenges.

The stressors identified by ICE investigators in this study place physical, psychological and social restrictions on investigative capacity. Modifications to the workplace environment that facilitate more effective professional collaboration, reduce workload and enhance investigator efficiency and functionality of the physical work environment would likely reduce the potential for harm associated with ICE investigation and improve ICE investigators’ capacity to perform their role.

This is the first study to use a broad research framework to examine the full range of stressors that ICE investigators face (both organisational and operational). The findings are important for developing comprehensive theories regarding workplace traumatisation as well as holistic intervention models to assist the prevention and management of stress related to ICE investigation.

The purpose of the current study was two‐fold: to explore police officers' perceptions of the daily challenges involved in child abuse investigation and how those challenges affect their ability to undertake child abuse investigations, and to explore how these challenges are managed on a daily basis.

This study employed a qualitative research design. In‐depth interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 25 police officers working in child abuse units across three Australian states.

Inductive thematic analysis revealed that heavy caseload and collaboration with other professional groups are two key sources of negative work stress frequently associated with child abuse investigation. Further, despite the provision of organisational strategies aimed at reducing work stress, the officers tended to rely predominantly on informal coping mechanisms.

This study has raised many questions for further research aimed at developing interventions to assist police organisations in managing work stress.

This paper provides an in‐depth analysis of the key challenges associated with child abuse investigation and the coping mechanisms employed for overcoming these challenges from the unique perspective of police officers authorised to investigate child abuse.

This paper aims to present a systematic review on organizational empowerment (OE) using Peterson and Zimmerman´s model (2004) as a starting point. The aim is to further conceptualize OE, discover how the components in the model influence each other and identify recommendations for future research.

All articles that cited the OE model, published in 2004 by Peterson and Zimmerman, have been systematically reviewed. In total, 37 studies of 410, found in Google Scholar and Web of Science, are included in the review.

The review revealed that intra-, inter- and extra-organizational empowerment affect each other and that evidence for the processes and outcomes on intra-organizational empowerment have increased, but there is limited additional evidence for the other two components.

Literature was searched in two databases, focusing on the OE model. A search using other databases on OE as a broad concept might provide additional sources.

Findings are relevant for professionals, leaders in human service organizations, educators and researchers. Practice can be improved by applying the knowledge; educators can use the results in their program and researchers may use the findings for the further development of OE.

Since the OE model was presented in 2004, no systematic review has been performed. Therefore, this review contributes to the further conceptualization of OE.

Strategy scholars have long argued that breakthrough innovation is generated by recombining knowledge from distant domains. Even if firms have the ability to access and absorb knowledge from distant domains, however, they may fail to pay attention to such knowledge because it is seemingly irrelevant to their tasks. We draw attention to this problem of knowledge relevance and develop a theoretical model to illuminate how ideas from seemingly irrelevant (i.e., peripheral) domains can generate breakthrough innovation through the cognitive process of analogical reasoning, as well as the conditions under which this is more likely to occur. We situate our theoretical model in the context of teams in order to develop insight into the microfoundations of knowledge recombination within firms. Our model reveals paradoxical requirements for teams that help to explain why breakthrough innovation is so difficult.