CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE ALLEGATIONS - RELIABILITY OF CRITERIA-BASED CONTENT-ANALYSIS

Statement Validity Analysis (SVA), an assessment system for the credib ility of children's allegations of sexual abuse, has recently undergon e quantification and empirical testing. Twenty-three videotapes of inv estigative interviews of confirmed child sexual abuse victims were obt ained for an interrater reliability analysis. Each tape was rated by t wo of four trained raters according to the criteria-based content anal ysis (CBCA) procedure of the SVA method. The average proportion agreem ent (.75) was equivalent to the value (.72) reported by Steller (1989) , but the chance-corrected reliabilities of the CBCA criteria varied f rom moderate to low (Maxwell's RE coefficient of agreement range = -.2 2 to 1.00). The criteria need more explicit, behaviorally anchored def initions, and rater training needs to focus on the identified problem criteria. Potential limitations of interpretation include the small re stricted sample, the use of uncontrolled community interviews, and the rating of videotapes rather than transcripts of the interviews.