Effectiveness of Equine-assisted Learning on Psychosocial Well-being Among Nurses.

Overview

• This study assessed how equine-assisted learning (EAL), which involves interactions with horses, affects stress, burnout, distress, and resilience among nurses.
• The research found that EAL led to significant improvements in reducing stress, burnout, and distress, as well as a temporary increase in resilience.

Background and Importance

• Nurse burnout is a critical issue affecting the stability and effectiveness of the healthcare workforce.
• Burnout and secondary traumatic stress can lead to decreased quality of care and increased turnover among nurses.
• Early detection and effective management strategies for stress and burnout are needed to maintain workforce well-being and patient care standards.

Study Design and Methods

• The study used a pre-post-interventional design to measure changes over time in nurses’ psychosocial well-being.
• Equine-assisted learning (EAL) was the intervention tested; it typically includes therapeutic activities with horses aimed at improving emotional health.
• Participants completed self-reported questionnaires evaluating secondary traumatic stress, job burnout, subjective distress, and resilience at three time points:
  • Baseline (before intervention)
  • Immediately after the intervention
  • One-month follow-up
• Statistical analysis utilized linear mixed models to capture score changes over time and determine the significance of observed effects.

Key Findings

• Secondary traumatic stress decreased significantly following EAL by an average of 6.83 points (P < 0.001), indicating less stress linked to trauma exposure.
• Job burnout showed a meaningful reduction, dropping by an average of 6.45 points (P < 0.05) at the one-month mark, suggesting lasting relief from burnout symptoms.
• Subjective distress, which reflects emotional discomfort and psychological strain, was reduced by 9.02 points on average (P < 0.01), highlighting improved emotional well-being.
• Resilience scores increased by 1.4 points immediately after the intervention (P < 0.001), demonstrating a short-term boost in the nurses' ability to cope with stress, although this effect was not sustained at the one-month follow-up.

Conclusions and Implications

• The findings suggest that EAL can be an effective intervention to improve psychosocial well-being, particularly in lowering stress and burnout among nurses.
• By reducing burnout and distress, EAL may help improve nurses’ quality of life in their demanding roles.
• Enhanced well-being in nurses can lead to better patient care outcomes, making EAL a potentially valuable addition to occupational health programs.
• Future research might explore ways to sustain improvements in resilience over longer periods and investigate how EAL can be integrated into regular staff support initiatives.