Equine-Assisted Therapeutic Intervention in Institutionalized Children: Case Studies

• Autor(a) principal: Matias, Ana Rita
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Duarte Santos, Graça, Almeida, Nicole
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/34269; https://doi.org/Matias, A. R., Santos, G. D., & Almeida, N. (2023). Equine-Assisted Therapeutic Intervention in Institutionalized Children: Case Studies. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), 2846. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042846; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042846
• topic: equine assisted services; socioemotional competence; psychomotor intervention

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