AUTHOR=Guérin Noémie A. , Gabriels Robin L. , Germone Monique M. , Schuck Sabrina E. B. , Traynor Anne , Thomas Katherine M. , McKenzie Samantha J. , Slaughter Virginia , O'Haire Marguerite E. 

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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=Volume 5 - 2018

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2018.00268

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2018.00268

ISSN=2297-1769

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 towards adults and peers, behaviors directed towards animals or experimental control objects, and problem behaviors. To date, the OHAIRE has been used to code 2,732 minutes 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). We explored the psychometric properties of the OHAIRE through analyses of its inter-rater reliability, intra-rater reliability, construct validity, and internal structure, using data from these four human-animal interaction studies. The average inter-rater reliability was excellent (kappa = .81), with good reliability in most of the behavior categories coded. Intra-rater reliability was consistently excellent (.87 ≤ kappa ≤ .96). Internal structure analyses with Cronbach’s alpha supported the use of subscales to measure social communication behaviors toward peers (α = .638) and adults (α = .605), and interactions with animals (α = .773) and experimental control objects (α = .589). 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.