Developing a measurement tool for assessing animal-assisted activity effectiveness on children with special educational needs’ socialization: A pilot study
Objective: This study aimed to develop an observational tool to assess the social interactive behaviors of children with special education needs during animal-assisted activity and to examine its reliability and validity. Methods: The study comprised two phases: developing and evaluating the measure...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-08-01
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| Series: | SAGE Open Medicine |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20503121251363015 |
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| author | Liuzhi Hong Xingyu Shen Terence King-Heng Hui Ronda Ka-Wai Luk Hung-Kwan So Wilfred Hing-Sang Wong |
| author_facet | Liuzhi Hong Xingyu Shen Terence King-Heng Hui Ronda Ka-Wai Luk Hung-Kwan So Wilfred Hing-Sang Wong |
| author_sort | Liuzhi Hong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective: This study aimed to develop an observational tool to assess the social interactive behaviors of children with special education needs during animal-assisted activity and to examine its reliability and validity. Methods: The study comprised two phases: developing and evaluating the measurement tool. The tool was created through literature reviews and expert interviews. The pilot observational study was conducted in a special educational school in Hong Kong, China, involving 138 children with intellectual disability participating in animal-assisted activity sessions to examine the tool’s reliability and validity. Results Initially, the measurement tool included 26 observational variables across three dimensions (inter-rater reliability of 0.74). After excluding variables with low discriminability, the final tool contained seven observational variables. The tool demonstrated strong reliability (inter-rater reliability of 0.81) and satisfactory validity, significantly discriminating among different intellectually disabled students ( p s < 0.05). Conclusions: This study developed and validated an observational tool for measuring the social behaviors of children with special education need during animal-assisted activity sessions. More extensive studies are needed to further evaluate the instrument. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-514ccd222dda41f8ba9fcbc873c8e6d0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2050-3121 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-514ccd222dda41f8ba9fcbc873c8e6d02025-08-23T15:04:45ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open Medicine2050-31212025-08-011310.1177/20503121251363015Developing a measurement tool for assessing animal-assisted activity effectiveness on children with special educational needs’ socialization: A pilot studyLiuzhi Hong0Xingyu Shen1Terence King-Heng Hui2Ronda Ka-Wai Luk3Hung-Kwan So4Wilfred Hing-Sang Wong5Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, ChinaSchool of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, ChinaDepartment of Biochemistry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CanadaDepartment of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, ChinaDepartment of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, ChinaDepartment of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, ChinaObjective: This study aimed to develop an observational tool to assess the social interactive behaviors of children with special education needs during animal-assisted activity and to examine its reliability and validity. Methods: The study comprised two phases: developing and evaluating the measurement tool. The tool was created through literature reviews and expert interviews. The pilot observational study was conducted in a special educational school in Hong Kong, China, involving 138 children with intellectual disability participating in animal-assisted activity sessions to examine the tool’s reliability and validity. Results Initially, the measurement tool included 26 observational variables across three dimensions (inter-rater reliability of 0.74). After excluding variables with low discriminability, the final tool contained seven observational variables. The tool demonstrated strong reliability (inter-rater reliability of 0.81) and satisfactory validity, significantly discriminating among different intellectually disabled students ( p s < 0.05). Conclusions: This study developed and validated an observational tool for measuring the social behaviors of children with special education need during animal-assisted activity sessions. More extensive studies are needed to further evaluate the instrument.https://doi.org/10.1177/20503121251363015 |
| spellingShingle | Liuzhi Hong Xingyu Shen Terence King-Heng Hui Ronda Ka-Wai Luk Hung-Kwan So Wilfred Hing-Sang Wong Developing a measurement tool for assessing animal-assisted activity effectiveness on children with special educational needs’ socialization: A pilot study SAGE Open Medicine |
| title | Developing a measurement tool for assessing animal-assisted activity effectiveness on children with special educational needs’ socialization: A pilot study |
| title_full | Developing a measurement tool for assessing animal-assisted activity effectiveness on children with special educational needs’ socialization: A pilot study |
| title_fullStr | Developing a measurement tool for assessing animal-assisted activity effectiveness on children with special educational needs’ socialization: A pilot study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Developing a measurement tool for assessing animal-assisted activity effectiveness on children with special educational needs’ socialization: A pilot study |
| title_short | Developing a measurement tool for assessing animal-assisted activity effectiveness on children with special educational needs’ socialization: A pilot study |
| title_sort | developing a measurement tool for assessing animal assisted activity effectiveness on children with special educational needs socialization a pilot study |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20503121251363015 |
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