Animal-assisted education (AAE) for primary school children in the time of COVID-19

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disrupted our regular but significant social life with adverse effect on our mental well-being. This presentation describes the development of an online alternative to an Animalassisted education (AAE) programme in Hong Kong called Competence in Active Resilience for Kids curriculum (CARing Kids), which aimed at teaching primary school students humane and social-emotional learning over 6 sessions. To continue the programme with minimal interruption, CARing Kids was converted to online learning with some changes, e.g. (1) self-developed storybooks were converted into e-books, (2) handlers of reading canines were asked to pre-record videos showing their canines’ recent activities, (3) using reading canines’ photos to create videos and teach students how to maintain personal hygiene and healthy lifestyle amid the pandemic. At the end of each online session, sufficient time was given for students to chat with handlers and understand more about the reading canines. Several challenges were found in online over face-to-face CARings Kids programme; for example, students with lower socioeconomic status often lacked electronic devices that enable mutual interaction, and certain activities such as patting and brushing the canines could not be performed in online AAE.Yet, online AAE is no longer contained in classroom settings and could be more engaging to participants from a systemic perspective. During school suspension, participants’ family members were often in the same home setting with the participants, which facilitated discussion about humane education and animal welfare with the students. Besides, online AAE often took place with the reading canines either at home or at school without students around, which not only kept their stress level at minimum level, but also ensured both parties’ safety by maintaining social distancing. The preliminary results showed that the intervention group (who received 6-session online AAE) reported a significant reduction in emotional problems, t(34) = -3.88, p 〈.01. Although there was main effect of time on participants’ hyperactivity, F[1,65] = 7.20, p 〈.01, only control group had significant increase over time, t(31)= 2.88, p 〈 .01. The results indicated that both groups of students were adapting to new lifestyle during the pandemic, yet the programme helped the intervention group better navigate uncertainty. Although online AAE is not as ideal as the face-to-face programme for teaching children humane and social-emotional learning, it is an alternative that ensures the safety of participating students and reading canines (as well as their handlers) and engages isolated individuals in such unprecedented time.