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Frontiers in psychiatry2023; 14; 1277338; doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1277338

Equine-assisted interventions for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder: a systematic review.

Abstract: Equine-assisted intervention therapy has a nearly 60-year history and has been shown to have a significant positive impact on various types of psychotherapy patients. Due to an increase in research on EAT, the number of existing methods of equine-assisted intervention therapy has gradually increased. Based on existing literature on the application of equine-assisted intervention therapy on veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this study examines the characteristics of several types of equine interventions and includes a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature on equine-assisted interventions for veterans with PTSD published over the past 5 years, from 2018 to the present. Ten articles met the review criteria and served as the primary data for analysis. Several types of equine-assisted interventions were shown to have a beneficial psychological impact on veterans. However, some limitations were also found in the studies, such as that the majority of experiments were constrained by small sample sizes. Equine-assisted intervention therapy has been shown to be effective, but further research is merited, in order to focus on the specific details and theories involved in equine-assisted interventions, and on the welfare of the horses involved in the therapy.
Copyright © 2023 Li and Sánchez-García.
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Publication Date: 2023-11-03 PubMed ID: 38025432PubMed Central: PMC10654975DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1277338Google Scholar: Lookup
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  • Systematic Review

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

The research article presents a review of studies examining the benefits of equine-assisted interventions for veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While these therapeutic approaches have shown promising results, more research is needed to establish the details and theories behind these treatments, and care for the horses involved.

Overview of Equine-Assisted Interventions (EAT)

  • The research discusses equine-assisted intervention therapy, a therapeutic approach that has been around for approximately 60 years. Such therapy has been documented to have a positive influence on numerous types of psychotherapy patients.
  • As more research on EAT has been conducted, there’s been a rise in the number of methods associated with this type of therapy.

The Scope and Methodology of the Review

  • The study delves into the existing literature with a focus on the application of equine-assisted intervention therapy specifically for veterans with PTSD.
  • The review systematically targets peer-reviewed literature on this topic published in the past five years, resulting in ten articles which fit the study’s criteria and were used as the primary data for analysis.
  • The goal of this examination was to discover the traits of several types of equine interventions and to highlight their effectiveness.

Findings of the Study

  • The review found that various types of equine-assisted interventions have been shown to bring about a beneficial psychological impact on veterans.
  • However, several limitations were identified in the studies, such as most of them being constrained by small sample sizes, thus potentially limiting the statistical significance of their results.

Conclusions and Future Recommendations

  • Overall, the review concludes that equine-assisted intervention therapy showed effectiveness in treating PTSD in veterans, but more work is warranted on this subject.
  • Future research should focus on the specific details and theories entailed in equine-assisted interventions, paying special attention to the welfare of the horses used in the therapy.

Cite This Article

APA
Li J, Sánchez-García R. (2023). Equine-assisted interventions for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder: a systematic review. Front Psychiatry, 14, 1277338. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1277338

Publication

Frontiers in psychiatry
ISSN: 1664-0640
NlmUniqueID: 101545006
Country: Switzerland
Language: English
Volume: 14
Pages: 1277338
PII: 1277338

Researcher Affiliations

Li, Jiaxin
  • Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte (INEF), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Sánchez-García, Raúl
  • Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte (INEF), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Citations

This article has been cited 1 times.
  1. Rankins EM, Faremi BE, Hartmann K, Quinn A, Posada-Quintero HF, McKeever KH, Malinowski K. Heart rate variability responses of horses and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder to ground-based adaptive horsemanship lessons: a pilot study. Transl Anim Sci 2025;9:txaf019.
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