Class
Article
College
College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences
Faculty Mentor
Michael Pate
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
Equine-assisted services incorporate the interaction of humans who face mental, physical, emotional, and/or social challenges and equines for therapeutic purposes. Recreational, physical, mental, social, and/or emotional goals are met through various equine-assisted services such as therapies, learning, and horsemanship. As recommended by those in the equine industry seeking to reduce equine-related human injuries, equines should be evaluated prior to participation in equine-assisted services. The Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International recommends the use of an unbiased equine assessment tool to conduct this evaluation; unfortunately, there are no validated methods that exist to meet this criterion. Therefore, our group has developed the Basic Ground Skills Assessment to meet this recommendation and will be determining the reliability and validity of this tool. Equine-assisted services professionals will score equines on each of the evaluation criteria, as listed on the rubric. The collected data will be analyzed to determine intra- and inter-rater reliability. Rubric scores will be correlated with the equine's physiological parameters of heart rate and serum cortisol to validate the assessment tool as an unbiased predictor of equine stress. The results of the rubric evaluation could lead to a standardized evaluation tool for equine-assisted services professionals. An implication of this research is the potential to decrease the occurrence of non-mounted human injuries caused by equine stress related behaviors. Additionally, a survey will be distributed to Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International centers to better understand the equine evaluation procedures currently in practice. Questions and analysis will focus on equine evaluation procedures and safety issues. This data has the potential to demonstrate a broader understanding of current evaluation practices in Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International centers and how evaluation methods relate to the safety of human participants. Presentation Time: Thursday, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
Location
Logan, UT
Start Date
4-10-2021 12:00 AM
Included in
Development and Validation of a Basic Ground Skills Assessment (BGSA) for Equine-Assisted Services
Logan, UT
Equine-assisted services incorporate the interaction of humans who face mental, physical, emotional, and/or social challenges and equines for therapeutic purposes. Recreational, physical, mental, social, and/or emotional goals are met through various equine-assisted services such as therapies, learning, and horsemanship. As recommended by those in the equine industry seeking to reduce equine-related human injuries, equines should be evaluated prior to participation in equine-assisted services. The Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International recommends the use of an unbiased equine assessment tool to conduct this evaluation; unfortunately, there are no validated methods that exist to meet this criterion. Therefore, our group has developed the Basic Ground Skills Assessment to meet this recommendation and will be determining the reliability and validity of this tool. Equine-assisted services professionals will score equines on each of the evaluation criteria, as listed on the rubric. The collected data will be analyzed to determine intra- and inter-rater reliability. Rubric scores will be correlated with the equine's physiological parameters of heart rate and serum cortisol to validate the assessment tool as an unbiased predictor of equine stress. The results of the rubric evaluation could lead to a standardized evaluation tool for equine-assisted services professionals. An implication of this research is the potential to decrease the occurrence of non-mounted human injuries caused by equine stress related behaviors. Additionally, a survey will be distributed to Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International centers to better understand the equine evaluation procedures currently in practice. Questions and analysis will focus on equine evaluation procedures and safety issues. This data has the potential to demonstrate a broader understanding of current evaluation practices in Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International centers and how evaluation methods relate to the safety of human participants. Presentation Time: Thursday, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.