Acceptance and use of the NICHD child investigative interview protocol: Testing the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT)

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide a better overview of the reasons why trained French investigators do or do not use the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development investigative interview protocol (NICHD protocol) when interviewing alleged child victims. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, 278 investigators who had been trained in the protocol and had used it completed an online survey, and ten of them were also questioned in more detail through semi-structured interviews. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT) was used here for the first time to study the acceptance and use of a new interview technique. Findings The results of this study confirmed most relationships between the different constructs proposed by the UTAUT model. Thus, the more interviewers believe that the protocol would help them interview children better (performance expectancy) and that it would require little effort to implement (effort expectancy), the more they intended to use the NICHD protocol during interviews. This intention to use and the presence of material and intellectual resources (facilitating conditions) were important predictors of effective use of the NICHD protocol in interviews. This model, therefore, appears to be relevant in explaining the use of the NICHD protocol in the field. Practical implications Several courses of action are suggested to increase intention to use and use of the protocol. These include proposing a communication campaign about the protocol, improving training, particularly by incorporating intention implementation, and setting up post-training follow-up. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that a model originally designed to predict the intention to use a technology has been applied to the intention and use of an interview technique, in this case, the NICHD protocol. This makes it possible to consider relevant actions that could increase the effectiveness of training in interviewing techniques.