Effectiveness of a school-based programme of animal-assisted humane education in Hong Kong for the promotion of social and emotional learning: A quasi-experimental pilot study

Abstract

Humane education, which focuses on the cultivation of kindness and empathy towards animals, the environment, and fellow humans, helps children to be less egocentric and more sensitive to the human-animal interaction in ecology. This study aimed to evaluate an animal-assisted, school-based humane education programme that promotes a humane attitude and enhances social-emotional competence for children in Hong Kong. A sequential mixed-methods formative evaluation was adopted in the pilot year of the programme. A controlled trial and focus groups were conducted to evaluate the preliminary outcomes and process of the programme and to identify the implementation obstacles and effective strategies. One hundred and ten primary three students from two primary schools participated in the study (55 in the intervention group and 55 in the control group with ordinary formal school extra-curricular activities). Paired sample t tests and a mixed ANOVA were conducted to explore the changes in students' social-emotional competence in our programme and two typical extra-curricular school programmes. Thematic analysis was conducted to categorise the transcriptions from the focus groups. Quantitative findings indicated that class-based, animal-assisted humane education increased cognitive competence (t[24] = 2.42, p = .02), empathy (t[24] = 2.94, p < .01), and reduced hyperactivity (t[23] = -2.40, p = .02). Further analysis indicated that the participant recruitment strategies moderate the impact of interventions on the development of empathy (F[2,104] = 4.11, p = .02) and cognitive competence (F[2,104] = 2.96, p = .05). Qualitative analysis suggested three major themes: enhancement of self-control, promotion of humane attitude, and improvement of reading skills. The preliminary results of this pilot study indicate positive effects of the programme. Vigorous systematic formative evaluation on the process and effective implementation should be included in future follow-up studies to ensure its sustainability and fidelity.