IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i5p2738-d759537.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring Equine-Assisted Therapy: Validation and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of an ICF-Based Standardized Assessment-Tool

Author

Listed:
  • Isabel Stolz

    (Research Institute for Inclusion through Physical Activity and Sport, German Sport University Cologne, 50226 Frechen, Germany
    Research Institute of Movement and Neurosciences, German Sport University Cologne, 50933 Cologne, Germany)

  • Volker Anneken

    (Research Institute for Inclusion through Physical Activity and Sport, German Sport University Cologne, 50226 Frechen, Germany)

  • Ingo Froböse

    (Institute of Health Promotion and Clinical Movement Science, German Sport University, 50933 Cologne, Germany)

Abstract

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization (WHO) was established as an international framework for monitoring rehabilitation outcomes and the impacts of health interventions since, as the term “functioning” implies, it emphasizes a person’s “lived health” in addition to their biological health status. Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) represents a holistic intervention approach that aims to improve both biomedical functioning and the patient’s lived health in relation to performing activities and participating in social situations. In this study, the psychometric properties of an ICF-based digital assessment tool for the measurement of the rehabilitation impacts of EAT were analyzed via simultaneous confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and reliability and sensitivity tests. In total, 265 patients from equine-assisted therapy centers in Germany were included for CFA. Change sensitivity was assessed via multi-level analyses based on 876 repeated assessments by 30 therapists. Results show satisfactory model-fit statistics; McDonald’s omega (ML) showed excellent scores for the total scale (ω = 0.96) and three subscales (ω = 0.95; ω = 0.95, ω = 0.93). The tool proved itself to be change sensitive and reliable (change sensitivity p ≤ 0.001), retest r = 0.745 **, p ≤ 0.001). Overall, the developed assessment tool satisfactorily fulfills psychometric requirements and can be applied in therapeutic practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel Stolz & Volker Anneken & Ingo Froböse, 2022. "Measuring Equine-Assisted Therapy: Validation and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of an ICF-Based Standardized Assessment-Tool," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-27, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:5:p:2738-:d:759537
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/5/2738/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/5/2738/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:5:p:2738-:d:759537. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.