A pilot observational study of recreational trail riding for Veterans with addictive disorders

Hoopes, Karl H; Osborne, Makenna; Marchand, William; Joubert, Katryna; Nazarenko, Elena; Black, Heather; Klinger, W; Sheppard, Stephen R.J.

doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2022.102813

Cited by 10 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Studies of veterans suggest transdiagnostic benefits of decreased disability [53] and improved functioning [54,64]. Finally, one study [47] reported increased resilience, but another [51] found no change in this measure.…”

Section: Transdiagnostic Benefits and Symptom Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recognition of all the above, animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) are being frequently used as complementary interventions for trauma survivors in general [43][44][45], specifically among veterans [26,33,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64]. AAIs might benefit trauma survivors by facilitating enhanced engagement with conventional interventions and/or, after rigorous studies demonstrating benefit, serve as stand-alone evidence-based treatments.…”

Section: Conventional Interventions For Trauma Exposurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is now emerging literature reporting investigations of EAS interventions for veterans with trauma histories. This review identified 23 studies [26,33,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][108][109][110][111] in the literature (Table 1). However, of these, only three [47,52,53] had a control group and only one [52] was a randomized trial.…”

Section: Overview Of the Extant Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…As stated above, studies of community populations have reported benefits for a variety of psychiatric conditions [80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97]99,100,142,143], including trauma-related symptoms [66,[104][105][106][107]. Veteranspecific studies have reported an improved effect [51,[56][57][58]109,110], and psychological flexibility [57,58], as well as decreased anxiety [51,56,59,60], depression [46,50,53,[57][58][59][60][61]63], craving for substances …”

Section: Transdiagnostic Benefits and Symptom Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Potential Mechanisms of Action and Outcomes of Equine-Assisted Services for Veterans with a History of Trauma: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Marchand

2023

IJERPH

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Equine-assisted services (EASs) are being increasingly used as complementary interventions for military veterans who have experienced trauma. However, there is limited evidence of benefit for this population and almost no literature describing the desired potential outcomes and possible mechanisms of action. The aim of this article is to address these gaps by reviewing the extant literature of animal-assisted interventions in general, and equine-assisted services in particular, with the goal of providing guidance for future investigations in the field. Currently, the field is in the early stage of scientific development, but published results are promising. Interventions that enhance treatment compliance and/or outcomes could benefit this population. Preliminary results, reviewed herein, indicate that EAS interventions might benefit the military veteran population by enhancing treatment engagement and therapeutic alliance, as well as by contributing to symptom reduction and resulting in various transdiagnostic benefits. It is recommended that future studies include exploration of potential beneficial outcomes discussed herein, as well as investigate suggested mechanisms of action.

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Section: Transdiagnostic Benefits and Symptom Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conventional Interventions For Trauma Exposurementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Overview Of the Extant Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Transdiagnostic Benefits and Symptom Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Potential Mechanisms of Action and Outcomes of Equine-Assisted Services for Veterans with a History of Trauma: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Marchand

2023

IJERPH

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“…Studies that have investigated the impacts of equine-assisted services on veterans with PTSD have focused on psychotherapy or counseling incorporating horses and adaptive horsemanship, generally adaptive riding. Among veterans, PTSD symptoms as measured on self-report and clinician administered scales and related measures such as depression, quality of life, anxiety, and affect are reported to improve following psychotherapy or counseling incorporating horses (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19) and adaptive horsemanship (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ground-based adaptive horsemanship lessons for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled pilot study

Rankins,

Quinn,

McKeever

et al. 2024

Front. Psychiatry

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IntroductionEquine-assisted services (EAS) has received attention as a potential treatment strategy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as existing literature indicates that symptoms may decrease following EAS. Relatively little is known about the mechanisms at play during lessons and if physiological measures are impacted. The objectives of this pilot study were to 1) explore the effects of adaptive horsemanship (AH) lessons on symptoms of PTSD, hormone concentrations, and social motor synchrony; 2) determine if physiological changes occur as veterans interact with horses; and 3) explore if the interaction between veteran and horse changes over the 8-week session.MethodsVeterans with PTSD were randomly assigned to control (CON, n = 3) or AH (n = 6) groups for an 8-week period (clinical trial; NCT04850573; clinicaltrials.gov). Veterans completed the PTSD Checklist (PCL-5) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) at pre-, post-, and 2- and 6-month follow-up time points. They also completed a social motor synchrony test (pendulum swinging) and blood draw at pre- and post-time points. In weeks 1, 4, and 8, blood samples were drawn at 0 min, 3 min, 5 min, 25 min, and 30 min during the 30-min AH lessons. Veterans completed the Human–Animal Interaction Scale (HAIS) after each lesson. Blood samples were assayed for plasma cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and oxytocin. Data were analyzed with repeated measure ANOVAs. Changes in PTSD symptoms from pre- to post-time point were analyzed with paired t-tests.ResultsChanges in PCL-5 scores tended to differ (p = 0.0989), and global BSI scores differed (p = 0.0266) between AH (−11.5 ± 5.5, mean ± SE; −0.5 ± 0.2) and CON (5.3 ± 5.4; 0.4 ± 0.2) groups. Social motor synchrony and hormone concentrations did not differ between groups or time points (p > 0.05). Cortisol, norepinephrine, and oxytocin concentrations did not differ across sessions (p > 0.05). Epinephrine concentrations tended (p = 0.0744) to decrease from week 1 to 4 of sessions. HAIS scores increased (p ≥ 0.0437) in week 3 and remained elevated as compared to week 1.DiscussionParticipant recruitment was the greatest challenge. These preliminary results agree with the literature suggesting that EAS can reduce symptoms of PTSD.

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A pilot observational study of a psychotherapy incorporating equines resiliency intervention for staff at a large medical center

Marchand

Sullivan-Sakaeda²

2022

Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice

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A pilot observational study of recreational trail riding for Veterans with addictive disorders

Cited by 10 publications

References 28 publications

Potential Mechanisms of Action and Outcomes of Equine-Assisted Services for Veterans with a History of Trauma: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Potential Mechanisms of Action and Outcomes of Equine-Assisted Services for Veterans with a History of Trauma: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Ground-based adaptive horsemanship lessons for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled pilot study

A pilot observational study of a psychotherapy incorporating equines resiliency intervention for staff at a large medical center

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