Equine-Assisted Therapeutic Intervention in Institutionalized Children: Case Studies

Ana Rita Matias (), Graça Duarte Santos and Nicole Almeida
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Ana Rita Matias: Departamento de Desporto e Saúde, Escola de Saúde e Desenvolvimento Humano, Universidade de Évora, 7004-516 Évora, Portugal
Graça Duarte Santos: Departamento de Desporto e Saúde, Escola de Saúde e Desenvolvimento Humano, Universidade de Évora, 7004-516 Évora, Portugal
Nicole Almeida: Psychomotor Therapist at T-Terapias, 2500 Caldas da Rainha, Portugal

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: A significant number of institutionalized children have behavior problems. Socio-emotional skills are fundamental for their adaptation and success throughout life and are usually weakened in this population. Equine-assisted services (EAS) are a form of therapeutic mediation that facilitates and requires the practitioner’s participation, contributing to the promotion of various psychomotor and socio-emotional dimensions. This study was developed during 17 sessions of EAS with a psychomotor intervention, which took place individually and weekly and lasted approximately 45 min, with three institutionalized children. A quantitative and qualitative assessment was carried out before and after the intervention to study the effects of an EAS intervention on socio-emotional competencies in the three institutionalized children. There was an improvement in skills, with an impact on intrapersonal skills and marked improvement in self-regulation and self-control, in addition to an improvement in the intentionality of movement and adequacy of gesture to the context. This type of intervention underlies a renewed educational and therapeutic approach, contributing to mental health promotion in this population.

Keywords: equine-assisted services; socioemotional competence; psychomotor intervention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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