A systematic review of effectiveness of complementary and adjunct therapies and interventions involving equines.

This research article is a systematic review on how effective the use of equines (horses) are in certain therapies, particularly for individuals dealing with chronic illness or health challenges. The review analyzed various studies published in peer-reviewed journals and concluded that overall, therapies involving equines show promise for treating health challenges.

Methodology

• The researchers employed a systematic literature review approach, examining both published empirical studies and gray literature (documents not controlled by commercial publishing) that deal with biopsychosocial interventions involving equines. This research focused on populations dealing with chronic illness or health challenges.
• The Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) criteria were applied to all studies. This is a method used by researchers to formulate answerable research questions. It helps to identify the key components of a study and facilitates the literature search process.
• The Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach were also applied, which is a widely used system for rating the quality of evidence in systematic reviews.
• Through 16 electronic databases and manual searching, the researchers accessed 103 studies; however, only 14 of those met the predefined inclusion criteria and were included in the final review.

Findings

• The review found no randomized clinical trials; however, two studies presented a moderate level of evidence that therapies involving equines could be effective.
• Out of the reviewed studies, nine showed statistically significant beneficial effects of such therapies, strengthening the argument for their potential effectiveness.
• While three of the studies didn’t find significant psychosocial effects for the target group, one of those did observe significant positive impacts for the comparison group (a group that didn’t undergo the therapy but was assessed alongside the target group for comparison).

Overall Conclusion

• Overall, the review concluded that therapies involving equines have potential as complementary treatments for health challenges, as the evidence, although somewhat limited, has generally been positive.
• However, the resulting recommendation is that more research is needed, particularly rigorous, long-term studies and comparisons with other well-established treatments. This would help to further validate the potential benefits of horse-involved therapies