„Disclosure of childhood sexual abuse: prevalence assessment and Lithuanian simulated interview platforms“, Nr. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-03-0067 - MRU

„Disclosure of childhood sexual abuse: prevalence assessment and Lithuanian simulated interview platforms“, Nr. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-03-0067

Project No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-03-0067              
Project title: Disclosure of childhood sexual abuse: prevalence assessment and Lithuanian simulated interview platforms“
Project duration:  from 2020-07-15 to 2023-08-31
Project manager: prof. dr. Rita Žukauskienė

Summary: The aim of the project is to assess the prevalence of child sexual abuse in Lithuania over the life course, based on self-reported data from adults, and to develop a Lithuanian Simulated Avatar Interview (SIA) platform to improve the training of professionals who interview children in cases of suspected child sexual abuse. Project objectives:

(1) To determine the lifetime prevalence of child sexual abuse in the adult population (by asking adults whether they experienced childhood sexual abuse before the age of 18);

(2) Develop a Lithuanian version of the EIT (Empowering Interview Training) platform for simulated interviews;

(3) To investigate the effectiveness of the interviewer training using the developed platform in different experimental conditions, controlling for individual psychosocial factors of the interviewers that may influence the effectiveness of the training.

(4) Conduct a pilot study of a simulated interviewing platform (EIT) to evaluate the effectiveness of training for practitioners conducting child interviews.

Outcome: The outputs of the planned research will include (1) a database containing the data collected in the population-based study; (2) scientific publications (submitted to editorial boards) in highly cited scientific journals; (3) presentations at international conferences; and (4) the final product, a prototype interactive training programme.

The project is financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the action No 01.2.2-LMT-K-718 “Targeted research in the field of smart specialisation” “Research carried out by high-level research teams to develop results in line with the themes of the R&D activities relevant to the economic sectors, which could be commercialised later”. Grant agreement with the Lithuanian Research Council (LMT).