Feasibility and Acceptability of The Equus Effect: A Small Randomized Controlled Pilot Study of an Equine-facilitated Therapy

退伍军人事务部以患者为中心的护理和文化转型的整体健康倡议促进了 使用互补和综合健康(CIH)方法与传统医疗护理来帮助退伍军人 实现有意义的人生目标并改善功能。马促进疗法(EFT)--一种动物辅助疗法 退伍军人在退伍军人中越来越多地获得CIH的形式。马对空气中的 他们的兽群和其他动物(包括人类和镜子)的情绪状态、行为和意图 肢体语言，并对微妙的非语言暗示做出反应。因此，马有能力提供即时的 关于一个人的情绪和行为状态的反馈。这种能力为人们提供了机会 在EFT辅导者的指导下，在情感上变得更加自我意识，学习如何调节情绪 变得更冷静、更耐心、更细心、更有信心，以获得马匹的合作。参与者： 鼓励EFT将他们从马的经历中学到的东西应用到他们的关系中 人民。由于高质量的社交功能依赖于对情绪的有效调节，EFT提供了一种 改善有心理健康问题的退伍军人的社会功能的新方法。VAS是 越来越多地将EFT作为CIH来接受。然而，仔细进行的、科学有效的关于EFT的研究 还没有进行过。现有的关于EFT对心理健康的同行评议研究非常有限，甚至很差 方法质量，而不是专注于成年人。所有这些措施都没有把社会功能作为主要结果。 这项小型随机对照试验计划检验一种名为Equus效应的创新EFT (TEE)作为退伍军人现有退伍军人精神健康服务的补充，以改善社会功能。三通 旨在通过发展退伍军人的情绪调节和人际交往技能来改善他们的社会功能 通过与马的治疗互动。这项研究将评估1)研究程序的可行性， 评估和结果，2)实验和对照干预措施的保真度，以及3)可接受性 采用定量-定性相结合的方法对退伍军人及其心理健康临床医生进行干预。 这项研究有可能为这种日益流行的脑出血的治疗主张提供初步的可信度。 如果数据表明TEE和研究其影响的方法是可行和可接受的，它将奠定基础 对于RR&D IIR建议，在多站点随机对照试验中测试TEE的疗效。

The VA Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation's Whole Health initiative promotes the use of complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches with traditional medical care to help Veterans achieve meaningful life goals and improved functioning. Equine-facilitated therapy (EFT), an animal-assisted form of CIH, is increasingly available to Veterans within the VA. Horses have extreme sensitivity to the emotional states, behaviors, and intentions of their herds and other animals, including humans, and mirror body language and respond to subtle nonverbal cues. As such, horses have the capacity to provide immediate feedback about a people's emotional and behavioral states. This capacity affords people opportunities to become more emotionally self-aware and, with guidance from EFT facilitators, learn how to regulate emotions and become calmer and more patient, attentive, and confident to gain the horses' cooperation. Participants in EFT are encouraged to apply what they have learned from their equine experiences to their relationships with people. Since high quality social functioning depends on effective regulation of one's emotions, EFT offers a novel way in which to improve the social functioning of Veterans with mental health concerns. VAs are increasingly embracing EFT as a CIH. However, carefully conducted, scientifically valid research about EFT has not been conducted. Existing peer-reviewed research about EFT for mental health is very limited, of poor methodological quality, and not focused on adults. None of it targets social functioning as a main outcome. This small randomized controlled pilot test proposes to examine an innovative EFT called The Equus Effect (TEE) as a complement to Veterans' existing VA mental health services to improve social functioning. TEE aims to improve Veterans' social functioning by developing their emotion regulation and interpersonal skills through therapeutic interactions with horses. This study will evaluate 1) the feasibility of study procedures, assessments, and outcomes, 2) the fidelity of experimental and control interventions, and 3) the acceptability of the interventions to Veterans and their mental health clinicians using mixed quantitative-qualitative methods. The study has the potential to lend initial credibility to the therapeutic claims of this increasingly popular CIH. Should data indicate that TEE and methods to study its effects are feasible and acceptable, it will set the stage for a RR&D IIR proposal to test the efficacy of TEE in a multi-site randomized controlled trial.