Interview guide
Interviewing women who were survivors of childhood sexual abuse about their use of helping services
1. Introduction
Chat about getting to interview etc. How are things going with you today?
Explain confidentiality – nobody else knows you are being interviewed – tapes will be destroyed.
Interview will be a conversation - explain tape recorder and that she can switch it off at any time if not comfortable.
2. Can you tell me a bit about yourself: how old you are, where you live, who lives there with you? Children, etc.?
3. Use of services
Begin by asking about the service known to be used at present.
Points to cover:
What sort of service?
How often?
What happens there?
When did you first go?
How did you hear about it?
Do the people there know you are a survivor?
How do you feel about going there?
4. First disclosure
I want to ask you now about the first time as an adult you told someone that you had been abused as a child.
Points to cover:
Who did you tell?
Can you describe what happened?
Can you remember why/how you came to tell that person?
What were you hoping would happen?
What sort of help did you get?
What happened next?
5. Subsequent use of services
Points as for current service.
6. Good/not-so-good points of services used
7. Check other service use
8. Other support
Help from family, partner, friends, other survivors?
9. Future Help needed in future? Type? How long?
10. Ending
Any ways in which you would like services improved both for yourself and for other survivors? Anything else that you would like to say about the help survivors need?
11. Switch off tape – make sure participant is comfortable, reassure about confidentiality and interest, chat, tea, etc.
Notes on the interview guide
1. Ensure that your research participant is comfortable and fully informed about the nature, length and format of the interview. Time spent building rapport helps the participant to feel more relaxed and willing to engage in the interview. If your subject matter is personal or sensitive then the confidentiality of the interview should be stressed – particularly thinking about what will happen to any information the participant shares in the interview.
2. Initially it is important to encourage your research participant to talk, to help them to feel that they have experiences or opinions to contribute to the interview and to show them that you expect them to do the talking! So the first question or topic you introduce should be something you know they can answer – and to which they have to say more than just ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
3. Early in the interview it can be helpful to talk about events or situations that are likely to be in the participant’s mind: current use of service, for example, is a good place to start.
PROMPTS – here we put in a list of questions to prompt the interviewer to cover all of these points about the current service. This is not a list of questions to be put to the participant – rather, it is a list to remind the interviewer to ask about these aspects if the participant does not include the information in their answer.
4. We are now moving to the middle of the interview and more sensitive and personal aspects of the topic can be introduced. Here we want to encourage the participant to share more and deeper feelings about a key event.
PROBES – to encourage the participant to share their feelings without asking a lot of detailed questions we used probes – general searching questions which give the participant the opportunity to say more about the event.
5. Now we want to move from the first disclosure through to the present and to discuss each service used in between. Asking the participant to work through a series of events chronologically can be helpful as it helps them to remember and in this research it helped us to understand how the experience of using one service can lead to similar or different experiences when using another.
Note that the same prompts are used as in item 3.
6. At this point in the interview, having shared a lot of detailed experience and, in some cases, deep feelings, participants are asked to begin to draw out some general points about the range of services they have used. It is useful to do this late in the interview because participants have by this stage recalled and thought about all the services they have used. Having brought their experiences and feelings to mind, they are in a good position to assess those services and identify ‘good’ and ‘not so good’ experiences.
7. A check question to gather anything that has been overlooked.
8. Now the discussion is widened to include other forms of support.
9. As the end of the interview is drawing nearer, the participant is encouraged to look to the future rather than the past.
10. Another question which helps to move the focus away from what may have been a distressing or uncomfortable discussion about the past to looking at ways in which services can be improved for the participant and for others – and for the researcher to find out what ideas people have about improving services.
And an opportunity for the participant to say anything else about the topic that has not been included so far.
11. The end of the interview is signalled by turning off the recorder. The participant is reminded of the confidentiality of what has been said and the purpose of the research. The researcher thanks the participant and ensures that she is OK.