Objectives
The aim of the course is to provide knowledge and skills useful for conducting interviews with children and adolescents in a clinical context.
Programme
Listening to children, adolescents, and their parents is essential for designing and implementing effective treatments.
Based on a theoretical and methodological framework, participants will acquire practical insights and specific skills to manage the first interviews with children, adolescents, and their families in a clinical setting.
The first part of the course introduces the key elements of the clinical interview in developmental age: the essential components, phases, objectives, the contexts in which it takes place, the relational aspects and the areas to be explored. These topics will be presented starting from the most recent literature.
Subsequently, through an experiential methodology, students will practice interview techniques and methods of conducting an interview: how to intervene to foster a good relationship and a solid working alliance, how to motivate, how to effectively gather risk and protective factors, and how to provide initial feedback.
The course will particularly focus on Motivational Interviewing, a person-centered communication style that is especially effective with adolescents.
A final module will be dedicated to interviewing child witnesses and alleged victims of child abuse
The teaching approach will be experiential, combining practical training and supervision. Exercises, group work, role-playing, and case examples will alternate with moments of discussion and theoretical focus.
Exam
Students will be evaluated through different means: active participation, critical skills, ability to cooperate, and contribution to reflection and skill development. At the end of the course, there will be a practical exam in which students will be asked to analyze the transcript of an interview.
Bibliography
- McConaughy S.H. (2022). Clinical interviews for children and adolescents: Assessment to intervention (3nd ed.). New York, NY, US: Guilford Press
- Naar-King S, Suarez M. (2014) Il colloquio motivazionale con gli adolescenti. Trento: Erickson
- Anchisi R., Gambotto Dessy M. (2017). Il colloquio clinico. Firenze: Hogrefe editore
- Ruggiero G. M., Sassaroli S. (2013), Il colloquio in psicoterapia cognitiva, teoria e pratica clinica, Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore
- Camerini G.B. (2018), La valutazione del minore nei casi di abuso. Firenze: Hogrefe editore
