The impact of memory (mis)beliefs on public health and justice outcomes

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The impact of inaccurate beliefs about memory function is a cause for scientific and societal concern;controversial memory beliefs and associated risky treatments are again gaining currency. Experienceshows memory misbeliefs may contribute to non-trivial adverse health and justice outcomes. Potentialkey negative health outcomes in therapeutic settings are: contentious diagnoses, increased patientdistress, self-harm and suicidal ideation, the development of false or inaccurate memories for childsexual abuse and family fragmentation. Potential key negative outcomes in justice settings are: wrongcharging decisions, inadvertent contamination of witness interviews and incorrect evidential reliabilitydeterminations that may contribute to unsafe verdicts.This research aims to amplify existing scholarly awareness of the range and causes of memory misbeliefsamongst health and justice professionals in England and Wales. It also proposes two novel researchstrands to increase scientific understanding by (i) investigating relevant professionals' training contenton memory function and (ii) tracking health and justice outcomes in individual cases where memories forchild sexual abuse are facilitated or arise within therapy. The research will use mixed quantitative andqualitative methods and gather information via self-completion questionnaires, face-to-face interviewsand retrospectively review clinical and justice case files.The overall research objective is to improve awareness of memory function and fallibility and the needfor caution when investigating and interpreting long- term memory recall. Research data may indicatethe need for improved therapeutic regulation and professional education. It may also warrant revisedcrown court guidance in cases reliant on long-term memory to prove the crime.