Conversations with vulnerable groups such as children, who are victims of abuse, are to a large extent dependent on the beliefs of the person, who is making conversation with the children. Previous studies have looked at different profession groups such as psychologists, and their beliefs about memory. Data indicate that beliefs about some specific topics about memory do not reflect the current scientific knowledge (e.g., Bjørndal et al., 2020; Magnussen & Melinder, 2015; Melinder & Magnussen, 2013). However, only few of such studies (e.g., Kostopoulos et al., 2019) have tailored these questionnaires to ask directly about beliefs about children’s performance. In a survey we have mapped out what different profession groups believe about children’s ability to talk about and remember events.
I will present the results from 3 of our groups, namely the police (n = 64), psychologists (n =70), and social workers (n = 50). To our knowledge this is the first systematic investigation and comparison of beliefs about memory in Denmark. This knowledge will provide important insights regarding where an update of the knowledge base is warranted to reflect the current scientific stand and highlight where the current knowledge base is sufficient as is. While results are being analyzed at the moment of submitting this abstract, data will be ready before the conference. As in similar studies, we expect the profession groups to possess state-of-the-art knowledge in some areas, while other areas are expected to need an update in order to live up to the current scientific status.