Reliability and Validity Assessment of the Observation of Human-Animal Interaction for Research (OHAIRE) Behavior Coding Tool

Abstract

The Observation of Human-Animal Interaction for Research (OHAIRE) is a coding tool developed to capture the behavior of children when interacting with social partners and animals in naturalistic settings. The OHAIRE behavioral categories of focus are emotional displays, social communication behaviors toward adults and peers, behaviors directed toward animals or experimental control objects, and interfering behaviors. To date, the OHAIRE has been used by 14 coders to code 2,732 min of video across four studies with a total of 201 participants ages 5 to 18 years (M = 10.1, SD = 2.5). Studies involved animal-assisted intervention with three species (i.e., dogs, horses, and guinea pigs) and three populations (i.e., autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and typically developing children) in a school, a therapeutic horseback riding program, a group therapy program, and the hospital setting. We explored the psychometric properties of the OHAIRE through analyses of its inter-rater reliability, intra-rater reliability, convergent and divergent validity, and internal structure, using data from these four human-animal interaction studies. The average inter-rater reliability was excellent (kappa = 0.81), with good reliability in most of the behavioral categories coded. Intra-rater reliability was consistently excellent (0.87 ≤ kappa ≤0.96). Internal structure analyses with Cronbach's alpha supported the exploratory use of subscales to measure social communication behaviors toward peers (α = 0.638) and adults (α = 0.605), and interactions experimental control objects (α = 0.589), and the use of a subscale to measure interactions with animals (α = 0.773). Correlation analyses with multiple questionnaires showed a convergence between positive emotional display and social behaviors as assessed by the OHAIRE and social skills as assessed by the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) and the Social Communication Questionnaires (SCQ). Little concordance was found between the OHAIRE and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) or the Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Community (ABC). The OHAIRE shows promise for wider use in the field of Human-Animal Interaction, with a need for generalization across more settings and ages.

Animal-assisted activity improves social behaviors in psychiatrically hospitalized youth with autism

“…Internal structure analyses were conducted using Cronbach’s alpha. Results of these analyses supported the use of several subscales to measure social-communication behaviors toward peers ( α = 0.638) and adults ( α = 0.605), and interactions with animals ( α = 0.773) and experimental control objects ( α = 0.589; Guérin et al, 2018). The OHAIRE showed a convergence between positive emotional display and social behaviors as assessed by the OHAIRE and social skills as assessed by the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) and the SCQ (Guérin et al, 2018).…”

“…This coding system has demonstrated excellent inter-rater reliability ( κ = 0.81) and good reliability in most of the behavioral categories coded (Guérin et al, 2018). Intra-rater reliability was excellent (0.87 ⩽ κ ⩽ 0.96) across the four studies that were included in the analysis (Guérin et al, 2018). Internal structure analyses were conducted using Cronbach’s alpha.…”

“…The OHAIRE coding system was specifically designed to evaluate human–animal interaction in research and exhibits good reliability and validity (Guérin et al, 2018). This coding system has demonstrated excellent inter-rater reliability ( κ = 0.81) and good reliability in most of the behavioral categories coded (Guérin et al, 2018). Intra-rater reliability was excellent (0.87 ⩽ κ ⩽ 0.96) across the four studies that were included in the analysis (Guérin et al, 2018).…”

Influência Do Protocolo Pediasuit E Therasuit Em Crianças Com Paralisia Cerebral

“…Os campos de Terapia Animal Assistida (TAA) e Educação Animal Assistida (EAA) cobrem a Intervenção Animal Assistida (IAA) (JONES, RICE, COTTON; 2019; FINE, BECK, NG, 2019), sendo, segundo a AAI-int, a Intervenção Animal Assistida com um objetivo menos específico, mais casual e espontâneo, sem cunho terapêutico ou educacional, está dentro das Atividades Animais Assistidas, podendo ser em grupo ou individual para pessoas de qualquer idade (AMARAL: 2016;GUÉRIN, et al, 2017;GUÉRIN, et al, 2018;LAI, et al, 2019;LERNER, 2019).…”

Human-Animal Interaction Research: Progress and Possibilities

“…The availability of low-cost high-definition video recording and editing makes it possible for researchers conducting HAI studies in laboratories, homes and other naturalistic settings to record HAIs as they take place for later coding and analysis. An exemplar of this approach (Guérin et al, 2018) demonstrates the power of having video from multiple studies with different populations to establish the psychometric properties of a behavior coding tool. Indeed, using video to record both training sessions prior to implementing interventions and the interventions themselves could make it possible to implement the intervention at another site with fidelity, allow for the coding of behaviors by raters blind to the intent of the intervention, and provide a resource for secondary data analyses and meta-analyses.…”