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Controlled Clinical Trial
. 2020 Apr 3;17(7):2431.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17072431.

Equine-Assisted Intervention to Improve Perceived Value of Everyday Occupations and Quality of Life in People with Lifelong Neurological Disorders: A Prospective Controlled Study

Anna María Pálsdóttir  1 , Marie Gudmundsson  2 , Patrik Grahn  1
Affiliations
Controlled Clinical Trial

Equine-Assisted Intervention to Improve Perceived Value of Everyday Occupations and Quality of Life in People with Lifelong Neurological Disorders: A Prospective Controlled Study

Anna María Pálsdóttir et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

People with neurological disorders suffer from poor mobility, poor balance, fatigue, isolation and monotonous everyday activities. Studies show that equine-assisted interventions can improve their mobility and balance, but could these kinds of interventions also increase participants' activity repertoire and self-assessed health, and reduce their fatigue? The study was conducted as a prospective, controlled study with three cohorts followed for one year: intervention group (n = 14), control group Passive (n = 29), and control group Active (n = 147). Participants in the study were affected by neurological disease or injury that limited their opportunities for an active everyday life. The intervention group lacked regular activities outside the home before the intervention, which consisted of riding once a week, led by a certified therapist. Control group Passive lacked regular activities outside the home, while control group Active had several activities outside the home per week. Primary outcome measures were activity repertoire measured with Occupational Value Assessment questionnaire. Secondary outcome measures were global self-assessed health measured with EuroQol-VAS and fatigue measured with Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire. The intervention group's activity repertoire and self-assessed health increased significantly compared to both baseline and the control groups. Equine-assisted interventions could help to improve the perceived value of everyday occupations and quality of life, as well as break isolation and increase the activity repertoire of people with neurological disorders.

Keywords: MS; animal assisted interventions; cerebral palsy; disability; equine-assisted therapy; horseback riding; neurorehabilitation; occupational value; quality of life; stroke.

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Conflict of interest statement

Patrik Grahn is a shareholder in a research company that handles intellectual property rights, NAHC Holding AB, of which the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences is the majority shareholder through its subsidiary SLU Holding AB.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The Oval-pd concrete value for the intervention group (red) increases over time, while the values for the control groups (green and blue) are largely the same.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The Oval-pd symbolic value increases over time for the intervention group (red) while the values for the control groups (green and blue) are largely the same over time.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The Oval-pd Self-rewarding value for the intervention group (red) increases over time, while the values for the control groups (green & blue) are largely the same.
Figure 4
Figure 4
No statistical differences between the intervention group (red) and the control groups (green and blue). However, Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire (SMBQ) listlessness steadily decreased over time for the intervention group.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Values of the intervention group (red) improved over time, i.e., participants perceived less SMBQ tension at 12 months, measured by Hedges’ g, which is low, 0.18, for comparisons between the intervention group and the Active control group, but medium, 0.64, for comparisons between the intervention group and the Passive control group.
Figure 6
Figure 6
No significant differences over time between the intervention group and the control groups with respect to the dimension SMBQ emotional and physical exhaustion. However, the values of the intervention group are improved between 6 and 12 months.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The values regarding SMBQ cognitive weariness for the intervention group (red) increased slightly over time. However, they did not deviate from either baseline or the controls with statistical significance.
Figure 8
Figure 8
EQ-VAS is a global measure of self-estimated health, where 0 = worst possible health and 100 = best possible health. The average of the intervention group (red) rises significantly over time, while the control groups (green and blue) do not change over time.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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