School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Sciences, CQUniversity, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health - Bloomington, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2024 Sep;45(9):948-960. doi: 10.1080/01612840.2024.2364236. Epub 2024 Jul 23.
Animals are increasingly being utilized to assist with therapies for people with various health conditions. Horses are often used as a mechanism of engagement and development for autistic children and adolescents. Horses offer a unique opportunity for interaction as the child or adolescent can physically ride and interact with the animal, thus creating a therapy that involves contact that is different to other animals. Benefits derived from equine-assisted therapies can be physical, social, behavioral, emotional, sensory, and cognitive. However, a current and specific research gap exists in understanding the potential mental health impacts of horse riding on autistic children and adolescents, as perceived and experienced by their parents, carers, and horse-riding service providers. This scoping review examined research on parents' and service providers' perceptions of the benefits of horse-related therapies, with a particular focus on perceptions of positive mental health impacts. A comprehensive electronic search across PubMed, Scopus and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature identified 16 articles from 15 studies which met the inclusion criteria. Findings included non-mental health-related benefits (as perceived by parents and service providers), mental health-related benefits (as perceived by parents and service providers), benefits for those other than the child/adolescent, and limitations of equine-assisted therapies. With the increased use of equine therapy, and the mounting evidence of its positive impacts on mental health, it is timely to expand research on how to better harness interventions and maximize the mental health benefits for autistic children and adolescents.
动物越来越多地被用于帮助患有各种健康状况的人进行治疗。马经常被用作自闭症儿童和青少年参与和发展的一种机制。马提供了一种独特的互动机会，因为孩子或青少年可以 physically ride 和与动物互动，从而创造一种涉及与其他动物不同的接触的治疗方法。从马辅助治疗中获得的益处可以是身体上的、社交上的、行为上的、情感上的、感官上的和认知上的。然而，目前存在一个特定的研究空白，即理解骑马对自闭症儿童和青少年的潜在心理健康影响，这是由他们的父母、照顾者和骑马服务提供者所感知和体验的。这项范围综述研究了父母和服务提供者对与马相关的治疗益处的看法，特别关注对积极心理健康影响的看法。通过对 PubMed、Scopus 和 Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature 进行全面的电子搜索，确定了 15 项研究中的 16 篇文章符合纳入标准。研究结果包括非心理健康相关的益处（父母和服务提供者所感知）、心理健康相关的益处（父母和服务提供者所感知）、对儿童/青少年以外的人的益处，以及马辅助治疗的局限性。随着马辅助治疗的使用增加，以及越来越多的证据表明其对心理健康的积极影响，现在是时候扩大研究范围，了解如何更好地利用干预措施，为自闭症儿童和青少年最大限度地获得心理健康益处。
