Difficulties translating research on forensic interview practices to practitioners: Finding water, leading horses, but can we get them to drink?

Over the last 3 decades, researchers have elucidated the cognitive and motivational conditions
that affect the capacity and willingness of young alleged victims to describe their experiences
to forensic interviewers. Applied researchers have also studied the contents and features of
training programs designed to help interviewers take advantage of the research on develop-
mentally appropriate interviewing. The latter studies have highlighted a knowledge transfer
problem—scientists understand best-practice techniques well, many interviewers believe that
they both understand and employ those practices, but widespread training has had a limited
impact on the actual quality of interviews conducted in the field. There is now clear evidence
that improvements in interviewing practice occur reliably only when training courses involve
multiple modules, distributed over time, with repeated opportunities for interviewers to
consolidate learning and to obtain feedback on the quality of the interviews they do conduct.
Barriers to the implementation of such training are discussed.

Lamb, M. E. (2016). Difficulties translating research on forensic interview practices to practitioners: Finding water, leading horses, but can we get them to drink? American Psychologist, 71(8), 710–718.
Link