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This study aimed to investigate the awareness of undergraduate students regarding the best interests principle of children and adolescents, and how they consider it in cases of custody disputes following conjugal separation. The research employed a quantitative approach with an experimental design based on vignettes. A total of 530 undergraduate st...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... these, 4 vignettes focused on contextual factors, 4 vignettes on material-physiological factors, and 4 vignettes on a combination of contextual and material-physiological factors, as illustrated in Table 1: Estud. Pesqui. ...Context 2
... provided demographic information and then answered questions regarding their knowledge of BIC, before receiving study instructions -the survey's content is available in Supplemental Material 02. Each participant was randomly assigned three vignettes, one per each domain outlined in Table 1. ...Citations
Child custody cases post-parental separation entail inherent complexities and uncertainties for legal experts and decision-makers, and are influenced by context factors. This study sheds light on how legal actors (i.e., judges, prosecutors, lawyers, psychologists, and social workers) navigate the uncertainties that arise in such context and, therefore, make their decisions. Based on a reflexive thematic analysis involving 73 participants from Brazil and England, this study reveals cognitive strategies employed by legal actors to comprehend uncertainty and operate in the decision-making context. These strategies encompass heuristics (i.e., selection, evaluation, degrees of freedom, and outsourcing decisions/ resolution) and metacognitive strategies (custodial arrangements, professional practices and ‘best interests of the child’ speech). These results provide a window into the decision-making processes in child custody cases; they offer a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted sensemaking strategies employed by legal professionals. The results carry substantial implications for informing and improving legal practice in handling complex child custody situations. Furthermore, this study charts new paths for future research by highlighting potential avenues for refining and advancing the strategies employed by legal experts in these cases, especially considering the child’s best interests.
