Experiences of asylum interviews by asylum officials, interpreters and asylum seekers in Finland
New paper alert by post-doctoral researcher Jenny Skrifvars and Psych-AID colleagues exploring the experiences of asylum interviews by asylum officials, interpreters and asylum seekers in Finland.
Despite previous research on investigative interviewing in the asylum context, few studies have examined how the interview participants (interviewer, interpreter and asylum seeker) perceive the interview.
Here we explored experiences of asylum interviews from all three perspectives. Additionally, we explored how well interviewers’ and interpreters’ views and attitudes align with empirical evidence regarding best-practice interviewing.
A total of 62 interviewers, 63 interpreters and 49 asylum seekers answered an online questionnaire with open and closed questions about preparation, rapport building, question strategies and overall experiences.
We found that the interviewers’ and interpreters’ views generally aligned with evidence-based guidelines for interviewing (e.g., use of open questions and rapport building). While most interviewers preferred open questions, many interpreters preferred closed questions over open questions.
Half of the asylum seekers reported that the questions were almost always or often difficult to understand. Most asylum seekers reported that it felt uncomfortable to open up and talk about their experiences.
Overall, the current findings help us address weaknesses in interview quality through interviewer and interpreter trainings to facilitate valid asylum evaluations.
