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Animals : an open access journal from MDPI2019; 9(9); 645; doi: 10.3390/ani9090645

Evaluating Animal-Assisted Interventions: An Empirical Illustration of Differences between Outcome Measures.

Abstract: Multiple authors have called for strong empirical evaluations to strengthen the foundation of Animal-Assisted Interventions. Carefully choosing the outcome measures of these studies is important, as choosing the wrong outcomes may lead to a failure to detect effects. The current study therefore compares and contrasts the use of several outcome measures, to assess the effect of an equine-assisted intervention for a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder: (1) a semi-structured interview with both parents, specifically designed for children with cognitive disabilities, (2) a general screening instrument filled out by both parents separately, which can be used to assess children's psycho-social problems, and (3) systematic observations of social and communication skills during the equine-assisted sessions. All instruments indicated an improvement in the participant's social and communication skills. We found differences between the interview and questionnaires with regard to parents' perception of aggression regulation and interacting with peers. Differences with regard to parental reports and observations were found for play development and anxiety. The observations provided a detailed view of the child's development during the intervention, which yielded an interesting hypothesis in terms of the current dose-response discussion in AAI for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
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Publication Date: 2019-09-03 PubMed ID: 31484309PubMed Central: PMC6770002DOI: 10.3390/ani9090645Google Scholar: Lookup
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Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

This research paper aims to highlight the importance of choosing appropriate measures in evaluating the effectiveness of Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs), specifically in this study’s case, an equine-assisted intervention for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Different outcomes revealed differences in parents’ perception and observed behaviors pertaining to aggression regulation, interaction with peers, play development, and anxiety.

Objective and Methodology

  • The main goal of this research was to establish a strong empirical basis for studying Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs) such as equine-assisted therapies for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and to emphasize the importance of appropriately selecting outcome measures.
  • The research was designed to measure the impact of AAIs on a child with autism using three different methods: a semi-structured interview with parents, a general screening questionnaire filled out by both parents separately, and systematic observations of the child during the equine-assisted therapy sessions.

Detailed Analysis and Findings

  • All three instruments used in the study indicated an improvement in the participant’s social and communication skills after the intervention.
  • There were observed differences between the parental interview and questionnaires regarding perceptions of the child’s ability to regulate aggression and interact with peers. These differences draw attention to the different insights gleaned from structured interviews compared to questionnaires, even when these assessments are gathered from the same source.
  • Discrepancies were also observed between parental reports and systematic observations regarding the child’s play development and anxiety levels. This underlines the importance of complementing parental reports with independent observations to provide a complete and objective picture of the child’s progress.
  • The systematic observations provided valuable insights into the child’s development during the course of the intervention. They generated significant data that could aid in understanding the dose-response relationships between AAIs and behavioral outcomes in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Conclusion and Implications

  • This study firmly establishes the need for carefully selecting outcome measures in Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAIs). It shows that different methodologies can yield different perspectives and therefore, researchers should consider multiple tools when assessing the impacts of AAIs.
  • The differences in the outcomes of the various tools used also point towards the importance of merging various forms of input, such as parental reports and independent observations, to get a more holistic and reliable view of a child’s development.

Cite This Article

APA
van der Steen S, Heineman MMP, Ernst MJA. (2019). Evaluating Animal-Assisted Interventions: An Empirical Illustration of Differences between Outcome Measures. Animals (Basel), 9(9), 645. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9090645

Publication

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
ISSN: 2076-2615
NlmUniqueID: 101635614
Country: Switzerland
Language: English
Volume: 9
Issue: 9
PII: 645

Researcher Affiliations

van der Steen, Steffie
  • Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences, University of Groningen, 9712 TS Groningen, The Netherlands. s.van.der.steen@rug.nl.
Heineman, Merel M P
  • Department of Pedagogical and Educational Sciences, University of Groningen, 9712 TS Groningen, The Netherlands.
Ernst, Marloes J A
  • Department of Psychology, Open University The Netherlands, Heerlen 6400, The Netherlands.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Citations

This article has been cited 10 times.
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