From Child-Centred Needs to Engineering Design Requirements: A Framework for Adaptive Interviewing Systems in Sensitive Judicial Procedures

Child interviewing in sensitive judicial procedures requires environments and systems that accommodate communication (COM), ergonomic (ERG), sensory/environmental (SEN), safety/privacy (SPR), and functional needs. However, child-sensitive recommendations are not always formulated as engineering specifications directly applicable to product and system development. This study proposes the Adaptive Child Interviewing System Framework (ACISF), a structured approach for translating multidisciplinary evidence into engineering requirements for adaptive child-centred interviewing systems. Child needs (CNs) are systematically translated into functional requirements (FRs), design requirements (DRs), and engineering parameters (EPs), with the resulting relationships consolidated within a Child Need–Engineering Requirement Matrix (CNERM). Adaptability is structured through common (C), age-adaptive (AA), and individually configurable (IC) requirements. The 6–10- and 10–14-year groups provide initial configuration bands, while individual configurability accommodates variation beyond age alone. The framework integrates requirements across five design domains and is demonstrated through the conceptual development of an adaptive child-interviewing cabin addressing spatial, anthropometric, accessibility, environmental, privacy, and safety considerations. The ACISF provides a traceable requirements-engineering architecture connecting child-centred evidence with implementable design solutions and supporting subsequent technical specification, prototype development, expert assessment, usability evaluation, and empirical validation.