Ana Paula SAMICO, IDHI - Instituto do Desenvolvimento Humano Integral, Brazil
Although equine-facilitated intervention programs have grown in popularity over the past decade, virtually nothing is known about the causal effects of equine-facilitated interventions on human development and well-being. This is a randomized study to determine the effects of therapeutic intervention training with horses for therapists or individuals wishing to conduct interventions with horses, in a 9-day immersive format with a herd of horses, on neurophysiological activity measured by Functional Neurometry (NF) using the BioEvolution® device. Participants (N = 11) recruited in-country (Brazil) were randomly assigned to an experimental condition. Nine functional neurometric scans were collected in the training site space (Haras) on the morning of the first day before the start of any activity for the pre-test, and another set of 11 scans were collected for the post. - test on the last day of training with all participants. The participants of this experimental group took part in a series of theoretical and practical learning throughout the training, comprising 2 hours of theoretical learning and 6 hours of practical experience per day. Participants showed changes in three parameters analyzed in the post-test: Anxiety Control (-20.90%), Cardio-Functional BPM (9.45%) and SNA Autonomic Nervous System - Frequency: Sympathetic (- 16.75%) e Parasympathetic (21.92%) indicating improvements in physical, mental and emotional well-being. Multivariate regression analyzes showed that the effects of experiential learning were independent of participants' neurophysiological levels, gender, age, and recruitment status.
Mots clés : Horse-Assisted Interventions|human-animal wellbeing|professionalization|public health |human-animal interactions
A105243AS