Hong Liuzhi, Shen Xingyu, Hui Terence King-Heng, Luk Ronda Ka-Wai, So Hung-Kwan, Wong Wilfred Hing-Sang
Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, China.
School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, China.
SAGE Open Med. 2025 Aug 23;13:20503121251363015. doi: 10.1177/20503121251363015. eCollection 2025.
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.
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.
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 (s < 0.05).
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.
本研究旨在开发一种观察工具，以评估特殊教育需求儿童在动物辅助活动中的社交互动行为，并检验其信度和效度。
该研究包括两个阶段：开发和评估测量工具。该工具通过文献综述和专家访谈创建。试点观察研究在中国香港的一所特殊教育学校进行，138名智障儿童参与动物辅助活动课程，以检验该工具的信度和效度。
最初，测量工具包括三个维度的26个观察变量（评分者间信度为0.74）。排除辨别力低的变量后，最终工具包含7个观察变量。该工具显示出很强的信度（评分者间信度为0.81）和令人满意的效度，在不同智障学生之间有显著差异（P<0.05）。
本研究开发并验证了一种用于测量特殊教育需求儿童在动物辅助活动课程中社交行为的观察工具。需要进行更广泛的研究以进一步评估该工具。
