Amado-Fuentes Maria, Gozalo Margarita, Garcia-Gomez Andres, Barrios-Fernandez Sabina
Psychology and Anthropology Department, University of Extremadura, 10003 Cáceres, Spain.
Occupational Stress, Psychopathologies and Emotional Well-Being (GRESPE) Research Group, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain.
Children (Basel). 2021 Nov 22;8(11):1073. doi: 10.3390/children8111073.
People with disabilities due to genetic origin often present high levels of stress: non-pharmacological interventions such as Equine-Assisted Interventions (EAI) may be a useful strategy. The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate stress levels in two participants with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome diagnosis, immediately after carrying out the EAI. A single case experimental design methodology was chosen due to the small sample size. Two participants with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome, a rare disease, with different comorbidities were included. The present study considered the EAI as the independent variable while the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) represented the dependent one, as HRV is considered an indicator of stress level. Measurements were performed before and after carrying out the interventions. The results showed an HRV increase in one of the participants and an increase in the arousal level evidenced by a decrease in his HRV. After having carried out the program, EAI seems to cause an impact on the activation level of the participants depending on the typology and nature of the intervention. However, these results should be treated with caution due to the small sample size. This study is a pilot to test the feasibility of the proposed interventions on the variable under study.
诸如马术辅助干预（EAI）等非药物干预措施可能是一种有效的策略。这项初步研究的目的是评估两名被诊断患有22q11.2缺失综合征的参与者在进行EAI后即刻的压力水平。由于样本量较小，选择了单病例实验设计方法。纳入了两名患有22q11.2缺失综合征（一种罕见疾病）且伴有不同合并症的参与者。本研究将EAI视为自变量，而心率变异性（HRV）作为因变量，因为HRV被视为压力水平的一个指标。在实施干预前后进行了测量。结果显示，其中一名参与者的HRV增加，而另一名参与者的觉醒水平增加，表现为其HRV下降。实施该项目后，EAI似乎会根据干预的类型和性质对参与者的激活水平产生影响。然而，由于样本量较小，这些结果应谨慎对待。本研究是一项试点研究，旨在测试所提出的干预措施对所研究变量的可行性。
