129 Horse-human interactions during group psychotherapy sessions

Abstract

Incorporation of equine into mental health treatment continues to gain increased attention globally; however, there is a paucity of data quantifying behavioral interactions between humans and horses during these sessions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to quantify horse and human interactions during group psychotherapy sessions incorporating equine. Five college-aged women with anxiety took part in 7 weekly 90-min group psychotherapy sessions incorporating equine at a university. The group was facilitated by a licensed mental health counselor and equine specialist, with the same 3 equine partners throughout the 7 weeks. Sessions were videotaped and 4 of the sessions randomly selected for behavior coding. Ethograms of mutually exclusive human and horse behaviors were created and broadly categorized into non-aggressive interactions, aggressive interactions, and non-interaction behaviors. Thirty-second scan sampling was used to record behaviors by one trained observer throughout thestudy for a total of 640 time points. Behavior observations began when humans entered the arena and stopped when they exited. Means percentages of non-aggressive interactions and non-interactions were evaluated via t-test with differences set at P < 0.05. Humans and horses spent significantly more time (P = 0.01) engaged in non-interaction (58%) than in non-aggressive interaction behaviors (42%). No aggressive interactions were recorded. The most frequently observed interaction was “standing interaction” (i.e., horse or human standing within arm's reach of a human or horse, respectively). Further work is needed to identify the optimal quantity of horse and human interactions during psychotherapy sessions. Additionally, elucidating the role of these interactions in the treatment process is essential to support the practice of incorporating equine into mental health services.