Enhancing questioning skills through child avatar chatbot training with feedback

How to prepare for conversations with children about suspicions of sexual abuse? Evaluation of an interactive virtual reality training for student teachers

BACKGROUND

Training for child interviewing in case of suspected (sexual) abuse must include ongoing practice, expert feedback and performance evaluation. Computer-based interview simulations including these components have shown efficacy in promoting open-ended questioning skills.

OBJECTIVE

We evaluated ViContact, a training program for childcare professionals on conversations with children in case of suspected abuse.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

110 student teachers were divided into four groups and took part either in a two-hour virtual reality training through verbal interaction with virtual children, followed by automated, personalized feedback (VR), two days of online seminar training on conversation skills, related knowledge and action strategies (ST), a combination of both (ST + VR), or no training (control group, CG).

METHODS

We conducted a pre-registered, randomized-controlled evaluation study. Pre-post changes on three behavioral outcomes in the VR conversations and two questionnaire scores (self-efficacy and - undesirable - naïve confidence in one's own judgment of an abuse suspicion) were analyzed via mixed ANOVA interaction effects.

RESULTS

Combined training vs. CG led to improvements in the proportion of recommended questions (ηp2 = 0.75), supportive utterances (ηp2 = 0.36), and self-efficacy (ηp2 = 0.77; all ps < .001). Both interventions alone improved the proportion of recommended questions (VR: ηp2 = 0.67, ST: ηp2 = 0.68, ps < .001) and self-efficacy (VR: ηp2 = 0.24, ST: ηp2 = 0.65, ps < .001), but not supportive utterances (VR: ηp2 = 0.10, ST: ηp2 = 0.13, both n. s.).

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of VR and ST proved most beneficial. Thus, VR exercises should not replace, but rather complement classical training approaches.