Evaluating the Efficacy of Equine Therapy Among At-risk Youth: A Meta-analysis

Wilkie, Karlene D.; Germain, Sarah M.; Theule, Jennifer

doi:10.1080/08927936.2016.1189747

Cited by 35 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The results that have been published, however, are encouraging and worthy of consideration given the pressing need for alternative approaches to the treatment of trauma. A meta-analysis of equineassisted therapy for at-risk adolescents who had experienced trauma found a medium effect size for seven studies (g=0.714, p < 0.001) that all included pre-and post-intervention data (Wilkie, Germain, & Theule, 2016). This effect reduced to a small/medium size (g=0.402, p=0.002) when only the five studies that had both treatment and comparison groups were included.…”

Section: The Evidence For Equine-assisted Therapymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The vast majority of public and private funding on animalassisted interactions has gone to studies including canines. Early indications, however, are that EAP holds promise for work with at-risk populations (Wilkie et al, 2016). Additional, rigorously-designed studies are needed to further explore the potential of EAP.…”

Section: Meeting Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Being a relatively new field, outcome studies were not published until 2008, thus only one meta-analysis has been conducted to date (Wilkie et al, 2016). The emerging nature of this field has also limited the amount of targeted funding available to researchers often needed to conduct randomized-controlled trials.…”

Section: Meeting Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy: An Emerging Trauma-Informed Intervention

Buck

Bean

Marco³

2017

ASW

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Section: The Evidence For Equine-assisted Therapymentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Meeting Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy: An Emerging Trauma-Informed Intervention

Buck

Bean

Marco³

2017

ASW

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“…In particular, equine assisted therapies (EATs) are often integrated in traditional therapeutic plans for individuals with mental and physical disabilities [6][7][8]. Even though their efficacy has not been completely proved yet, some authors claim social, emotional, physical, and educational benefits for several categories of patients experiencing therapy with horses [9][10][11][12][13][14]. For instance, EAIs seem to stimulate multiple domains of functioning handling emotional, cognitive, motor, and social disabilities with or without actual riding activity [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Transfer in Human–Horse Interaction: New Perspectives on Equine Assisted Interventions

Scopa

Contalbrigo

Greco

et al. 2019

Animals

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Equine assisted interventions (EAIs) include all therapeutic interventions aimed at improving human wellbeing through the involvement of horses. Due to the prominent emotional involvement traditionally characterizing their relation with humans, horses developed sophisticated communicative skills, which fostered their ability to respond to human emotional states. In this review, we hypothesize that the proximate causation of successful interventions could be human–animal mutual coordination, through which the subjects bodily and, most importantly, emotionally come into contact. We propose that detecting emotions of other individuals and developing the capacity to fine-tune one’s own emotional states accordingly (emotional transfer mechanism), could represent the key engine triggering the positive effects of EAIs. We provide a comprehensive analysis of horses’ socio-emotional competences according to recent literature and we propose a multidisciplinary approach to investigate this inter-specific match. By considering human and horse as a unique coupling system during the interaction, it would be possible to objectively measure the degree of coordination through the analysis of physiological variables of both human and animal. Merging the state of art on human–horse relationship with the application of novel methodologies, could help to improve standardized protocols for animal assisted interventions, with particular regard to the emotional states of subjects involved.

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“…Positive results have been found, for example, on children [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ], adolescents [ 16 , 17 ], adults, and elderly, with intellectual disabilities or physical impairments [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Some reviews have investigated psychological outcomes [ 23 ], the effect of EAIs on physical function [ 24 ], and their efficacy as complementary interventions with children and adolescents at risk [ 25 , 26 ]. Notwithstanding encouraging results, some literature reviews have emphasized a number of limits in EAI research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Equine Assisted Interventions (EAIs): Methodological Considerations for Stress Assessment in Horses

Santis

Contalbrigo

Borgi

et al. 2017

Veterinary Sciences

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Equine assisted interventions (EAIs) are recently facing an increasing popularity, and are characterized by a wide diversity of practices. However, information on the welfare of animals involved in this kind of activity is often lacking. Horses are highly susceptible to work stressors related to physical constraints and/or to the need to control emotions while interacting with humans. Considerations of the emotional state of horses involved in EAIs have multiple valences: for the safety of humans and animals involved, for the quality and efficacy of interventions, as well as for ethical reasons. The aim of this unsystematic narrative review is to summarize the different approaches used for the evaluation of horses’ stress responses, investigate their application in the context of EAIs, and discuss some methodological considerations for researchers and practitioners involved in EAI. The sources of information are mostly based on electronic databases (i.e., Medline, Scopus and Google scholar), as well as on hand searches of the references of retrieved literature, and discussions with experts in the field. At present, a few studies have investigated horses’ stress responses during EAIs, and further studies are recommended, with the final aim to derive a reliable multidimensional method for assessing a horse’s reaction during therapeutic programs, ultimately helping professionals to better develop interventions by taking into consideration the animal’s perspective.

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Evaluating the Efficacy of Equine Therapy Among At-risk Youth: A Meta-analysis

Cited by 35 publications

References 30 publications

Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy: An Emerging Trauma-Informed Intervention

Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy: An Emerging Trauma-Informed Intervention

Emotional Transfer in Human–Horse Interaction: New Perspectives on Equine Assisted Interventions

Equine Assisted Interventions (EAIs): Methodological Considerations for Stress Assessment in Horses

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