Hayley Ko
PhD in Social Science (Social Work and Social Policy) at OsloMet
Ko’s research focuses on the non-judicial interviews carried out by health personnel during forensic medical/dental examinations at Statens Barnehus. She is also working to develop an e-learning program whose aim is to train users in how to best conduct forensic interviews with children. She has a BSc in Psychology (Newcastle University) and MSc in Forensic Psychology (Royal Holloway, University of London). Specific field of interests include secondary trauma, social policy, jurisprudence, and human-computer interaction.
Tell us about your project!
As paediatricians and dentists conduct the clinical forensic medical and dental examinations needed for child abuse investigations, little is known about the dialogue that occurs between these individuals. Although healthcare professionals are not conducting formal forensic interviews with suspected victims of child abuse, conversations between the child and the healthcare professional may yield information and reliable accounts of the child’s experience. On the contrary, these nonjudicial conversations can negatively impact and confound the formal forensic interview. Utilising unsuitable interviewing skills, such as leading or suggestive questions, may confuse, mislead, or create mistrust with the child. Thus, healthcare professionals may benefit from an interactivelearning training programme that may improve the quality of non-judicial interviews. By improving interviewing behaviour towards children and following best practice guidelines, this will improve nonjudicial interviews. This project aims to examines the interactions between healthcare professionals and suspected victims of child maltreatment and abuse during forensic medical examinations. Firstly, dialogue will be examined to see how healthcare professionals communicate with alleged child victims of abuse. Secondly, children's responses will be analysed in order to uncover possible disclosure patterns of children. We will examine whether different healthcare professional’s (paediatricians and dentists) skills have an effect on a child’s response. Finally, a highly-intensive elearning training programme will be tested on the same group of healthcare professionals.
“This project aims to examines the interactions between healthcare professionals and suspected victims of child maltreatment and abuse during forensic medical examinations.”
— Hayley Ko on her research project “The role of forensic medical examinations and non-judicial interviews conducted by healthcare professionals with children who are victims of violence and sexual abuse.”