(PS1-D90) Participant Experiences During an Interview Assessment of Family Aggression

There are many advantages of using an Event History Calendar Interview (EHCI) to assess incidents of family aggression, including trained interviewers contextualizing incidents to enhance recall and accuracy of reports. Studies using the EHCI must optimize participant engagement and willingness to discuss sensitive information about family conflicts, but little is known about how the EHCI affects participants. Thus, we examined (a) participant reports of positive and negative experiences while completing a study using repeated EHCIs, (b) whether participants perceive improved recall of aggression and/or greater efforts to prevent aggression due to the repeated EHCIs, and (c) if efforts to prevent family aggression and/or increased recall of events are associated with positive participation experiences.

Data collection is ongoing, but here we report on a subsample of 112 participants who have completed the study. Participants are caregivers or partners from low-income families with at least one child between ages three and five years. Participants complete one de-identified EHCI (CIRCLE Interview; Marshall et al., 2017) per month for six months, each focused on incidents of family aggression. Interviewers were trained to use dialogue to promote participant narration of each incident, such as describing the topic of conflict, specific behaviors perpetrated and by whom, who was present, and if it is a repeated pattern. For the most severe incidents, interviewers guide introspection by probing for contextual factors surrounding the conflict, such as emotions before and after, post-incident behaviors (e.g., apologies), and the thoughts and emotions of others. 

Qualitative coding of post-study anonymous feedback from participants who chose to share their impressions (N = 49) suggests that 65% had positive experiences, while 24% were neutral and 12% had negative experiences. Commonly reported positive experiences include active changes within family interactions and learning about emotional processes during conflict, whereas negative experiences primarily reflected time burden of study procedures. Of the full current sample (N=112), 29% felt that participation enhanced recall of aggressive conflicts and 59% felt that they exerted more effort to prevent aggression, both due to repeated EHCI completion. Quantitative analysis suggests that positive participation experiences were significantly associated with a greater effort to prevent aggression, χ² (1, N=49) = 9.552, p= .002, but not with increased recall of aggression, χ² (1, N=112) = .324, p = .569. Recall and prevention of aggression were also significantly associated, χ² (1, N=112) = 25.608, p <  .001.

Findings suggest that the completion of repeated EHCIs on family aggression can be positive for participants and facilitates both recall of aggression and behavior change. Thus, in addition to benefits for improved research, the EHCI may also promote identification of at-risk families, build motivation for change, and create opportunities for service referrals. We will further elaborate on key considerations for study designs using the EHCI and ways to maximize study engagement in hopes of advancing this area of research.