| dc.description.abstract | Through my doctoral program, I have developed a growing interest in looking at everyday experiences between people and animals, and how to examine human-animal relationships. My interest has transitioned to home-based exposure of animals, and how these natural experiences may look for individuals regularly interacting with their animals. Naturalistic interventions involve interactions between individuals and owned animals (i.e., pets), under ordinary circumstances, such as in the home. These naturalistic interventions are the focus of my research. My first comprehensive exam involved a scoping review, looking at the impact of animals and children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) in the home environment. Studies show 1 in 54 children have ASD, which is a continually rising statistic (Maenner et al., 2020). Children with ASD experience difficulties obtaining adequate social skills, including things like social and emotional reciprocity, and social communication including verbal and nonverbal skills. Due to these differences in social skills, many children with ASD have difficulty bonding with loved ones, and behavior that can be challenging for parents. The purpose of this scoping review was to determine the state of the research regarding the effects of natural-based animal exposure for children with ASD. Thirteen studies met criteria for the scoping review, which involved peer-reviewed studies with the primary focus on children with ASD and studied the impact of animals in the home. The research showed there were no consistent tools used to measure the human-animal relationship, and each study within this review utilized a different measurement tool. No study utilized valid or standardized measures to measure the human-animal bond for children with ASD. Many studies relied on parent report regarding the relationships between child and animal, and research has shown parent report may not be a reliable or accurate measure for child behaviors, and these surveys may not fully represent the nature of the relationship between child and animal. I recommended utilizing a standardized measure, such as the Observation of Human Animal Interaction for Research (OHAIRE). The OHAIRE coding tool is a timed interval behavior coding system that quantifies social communication and interactions with animals. The OHAIRE interactions include interactive behaviors (social communication and environmental interactions), emotional display (facial and verbal), and interfering behaviors (aggression, overactivity, and isolation). Social skills and relationships emerged as the primary theme within this review and included two subthemes of safety and security and mental health implications. Regarding family characteristics, over half of the articles did not report on the severity of ASD within the study, however many the studies identified ASD severity as an important factor when considering animal ownership. Cost was associated with negative experiences for animal ownership in some of the studies, and it was recommended that financial obligations should be considered for families incorporating animals into their homes. Recommendations from my review included more rigorous research, identifying family characteristics that are best suited for animal ownership. These characteristics included child age, ASD severity, family income, and animal type. Recommendations also included utilizing an objective measurement tool to quantify the human-animal bond rather than relying on parent report. My second comprehensive exam was a graduate research grant proposal submitted to the Organization for Autism Research and was written to fund my dissertation study. While I did not receive Organization for Autism Research funding, the proposal solidified my research plan for my third comprehensive exam and dissertation. Further, I submitted an edited version of this proposal to the KUMC Occupational Therapy Education department and received the Therapeutic Science Dissertation Research award, which funded my dissertation study. My third comprehensive exam was a feasibility study utilizing the OHAIRE coding tool. The purpose of this study was to determine if the OHAIRE coding tool could be utilized in a home-based setting to code human-animal interactions in children with ASD. I also wanted to determine if inter-rater and intra-rater reliability could be reached between coders using data from the home-based videos. The results included the submission of nine minutes of video. The video provided by participants was challenging to obtain, as only two out of five participants submitted video, despite ongoing communication efforts. Of the video provided, there were some coding challenges, as the quality of these videos differed from training videos provided from OHAIRE team. Despite challenges, the research team reached inter-rater and intra-rater reliability agreement between primary and secondary coders. Recommendations from this study included providing financial incentives to recruit more participants and training to parents for recording video to secure higher quality video in the home-based interactions. We found the OHAIRE coding tool to be a promising measure of in-home human-animal interactions and recommended further research include testing in home-based settings with larger and more diverse sample sizes. My three comprehensive exams were foundational for my dissertation study. My dissertation expanded the use of the OHAIRE coding tool to measure human-animal interactions in the home environment. I wanted to examine the heterogeneity of interactions between children with ASD and their animals in their homes, and to explore the lived experiences of animal ownership in families of children with ASD. I found that there were meaningful differences with a large effect in overall interaction scores for children with moderate and severe ASD. There were smaller effects for those with mild and moderate ASD and a negligible effect between those with mild and severe ASD. Further, there were meaningful differences in interaction scores including talk, affection, and prosocial animal interaction scores by ASD severity. There were large effects for interaction scores for overall human-animal bond scores, as well as interaction scores including talk, gesture, look and touch between individuals with income $60,001 - $80,000 and those with $80,001+. Qualitative themes showed child development such as responsibility and communication, family considerations such as cost and training, and comfort and anxiety relief as important aspects of animal ownership. Describing child and family characteristics associated with favorable responses to having pets in the home can assist families to make informed decisions and professionals can provide informed guidance regarding animal ownership. Future research should involve clinical trials with larger sample sizes for generalization to the general population of children with ASD. | |
