Relatives' Experiences of an Equine-assisted Intervention for People with Psychotic Disorders
Overview
Affiliations
Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe relatives' experiences of an equine-assisted intervention for people with psychotic disorders.
Methods: The study has a qualitative and descriptive design. Ten semi-structured interviews were performed with relatives of people with a psychotic disorder who had participated in an equine-assisted intervention. A conventional content analysis was used to analyse the data.
Result: The overall category "Being with the horses strengthens health capabilities" summarizes the four identified subcategories "The horses contribute to a context with a common focus", "Interaction with the horses enhances self-confidence and motivation", "The interplay with the horses nurtures positive emotions" and "Being with the horses encourages physical activity".
Conclusions: The result of this study contributes to the growing body of research about the potential outcomes of equine-assisted interventions. The result also indicates that equine-assisted interventions may improve health capabilities among people with psychotic disorders. The generated knowledge may be useful in mental health services when developing equine-assisted interventions.
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PMID: 38758980 PMC: 11104696. DOI: 10.1080/17482631.2024.2354945.
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