Mattila-Rautiainen Sanna, Venojärvi Mika, Rautiainen Heta, Keski-Valkama Alice
Sports and Exercise Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Upsala, Sweden.
Front Vet Sci. 2023 Mar 14;10:1085768. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1085768. eCollection 2023.
Equine - Facilitated Therapy (EFT), an equine environment, and horses themselves can meet many physical and mental health needs beyond diagnostic categories. The horse's ability to produce a walk-like movement and the participant's ability to connect to non-judgemental living creatures, both of which can benefit participation and construct a positive self-image for chronic pain patients. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of EFT on perceived physical performance, level of pain, pain acceptance, depression and anxiety, and quality of life within a 12-week intervention for chronic low back pain (LBP) patients. Twenty-two LBP patients received EFT led by physical therapists as part of the public health services. A mixed method design combining quantitative and qualitative methods was employed to detect the outcome of the intervention. The data were collected questionnaires, interviews, and patient data repositories. An interview was voluntary for participants and included questions of one's health, visits to the pain clinic during 6 months and an open-ended question about the intervention. The coding of the data was completed independently by two persons using thematizing. The welfare of the attending horses was taken into consideration in basic training and for the research setting. Statistical analysis and paired -tests detected the changes during a 12-week intervention. The results suggest a significant increase in Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) levels of satisfaction with self-selected performances. The Raitasalo's version of Beck's Depression Inventory (RBDI) level of anxiety and Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) did not change, whereas a decline in the amount of perceived RBDI depression was found combined with increased levels of SF-36 Mental Change Scores and COPM satisfaction with performance. Only two of the 22 participants returned with reoccurring symptoms after 6 months to the pain clinic. The participant interviews revealed three important domains of experience during coding: physical-, psychological-, and social that link to the research question and suggest impact for the recovery from the human-animal interaction.
马辅助疗法（EFT）、马的环境以及马本身能够满足许多超出诊断范畴的身心健康需求。马产生类似行走动作的能力以及参与者与无评判性生物建立联系的能力，这两者都有利于慢性疼痛患者的参与并构建积极的自我形象。本研究的目的是评估在为期12周的干预中，马辅助疗法对慢性下腰痛（LBP）患者的身体表现感知、疼痛程度、疼痛接受度、抑郁和焦虑以及生活质量的影响。22名LBP患者接受了由物理治疗师主导的作为公共卫生服务一部分的马辅助疗法。采用定量和定性相结合的混合方法设计来检测干预结果。数据通过问卷调查、访谈和患者数据存储库收集。访谈对参与者是自愿的，包括关于健康状况、6个月内去疼痛诊所就诊情况以及关于干预的一个开放式问题。数据编码由两人独立使用主题化方法完成。在基础训练和研究环境中都考虑到了参与治疗的马的福利。统计分析和配对检验检测了12周干预期间的变化。结果表明，加拿大职业表现测量（COPM）中对自我选择表现的满意度水平显著提高。雷塔萨洛版贝克抑郁量表（RBDI）的焦虑水平和慢性疼痛接受问卷（CPAQ）没有变化，而RBDI抑郁感知量有所下降，同时SF - 36心理变化得分水平和COPM对表现的满意度有所提高。22名参与者中只有两人在6个月后回到疼痛诊所出现复发症状。参与者访谈在编码过程中揭示了三个重要的体验领域：身体、心理和社会领域，这些领域与研究问题相关，并表明了人 - 动物互动对康复的影响。
