Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT01795755

YATEP - The Impact of Horse Assisted Therapy (HAT) on Treatment Outcomes

The objective of the study is to assess the impact of horse assisted therapy (HAT) on:

* Addiction treatment outcomes (its effectiveness as an alternative therapy) * Addiction treatment dropout & addiction relapse (its efficacy in preventing dropout).

Hypothesis: HAT will correlate with:

* beneficial treatment outcomes of depression, anxiety, aggression * with improved self esteem & motivation * lower treatment dropout & addiction relapse.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Addiction Behavior Behavior, Addictive Compulsive Behavior Impulsive Behavior

Age range

16 year–26 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Department of addiction treatment - youth

Oslo, 0514, Norway

About this study

Background Inclusion of horses in therapeutic settings is a scientific issue with significant social and health implications in Norway. Challenges include increasing provision of horse assisted therapy of variable quality to vulnerable population groups with little substantiating evidence of associated benefit(s) due to lack of research, design issues, mainstream clinicians'/scientists' scepticism of "alternative therapy" and associated difficulties in attracting top researchers and funding. Extensive review of literature found a growing volume of studies but as indicated in the most recent systematic review, there are few studies with adequate research design.

Oslo University Hospital's Dept of Addiction Treatment - Youth (AUA) presents a unique research/evaluation potential to study HAT. It will treat approximately 100 patients per year aged 16 to 26 years with a primary diagnosis of addiction. Horse assisted therapy (using AUA's residential herd) is an integral part of the addiction therapeutic program. Furthermore, AUA's strong emphasis on research and its Youth Addiction Treatment Evaluation Project (YATEP) data base will provide an evidence base needed for sound study in an emerging area of science and psychotherapy.

Patient drop out from addiction therapy is high, often exceeding 50% (Stark 1992). Many AUA patients claim that they remain in treatment because of the horses.

The study is a randomised controlled trial of in-patients undergoing treatment. The Participant Group has treatment as usual plus HAT; the Control Group treatment as usual.

Participant and control groups are drawn from AUA patients (aged 16 to 26 years of age with a primary diagnosis of addiction International Classification of Diseases (ICD F10-F19), admitted between 2013 and 2014 to AUA's in-patient unit and who have consented to participate in research.

HAT is a structured program of 12 X 90 minute therapeutic sessions with horses, including horse care, ground and mounted work, conducted by two clinically qualified therapists who are also Level I Riding Instructors.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Primary diagnosis of addictionInternational Classification of Diseases ICD F10-F19, admitted in 2011-2014 for treatment at AUA's in-patient unit

Exclusion criteria

  • Ongoing psychoses

Treatment and study plan

Mentalization based inpatient treatment.

Behavioral

1-3 month of inpatient treatment

Horse assisted Therapy (HAT)

Behavioral

A structured program of 12 X 90 minute HAT sessions (horse care, ground and mounted work) conducted by two clinically qualified therapists who are also Level I Riding Instructors.

Primary outcomes

  1. Lower treatment dropout

    Time frame: Within treatment period of upto 3 months

    Reason for treatment exit, including drop out, is obtained from data recorded in the Department's YATEP data base.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Lower emotional distress (composite measure)

    Time frame: Within the treatment period of upto 3 months

    The measure tests whether depression, anxiety and depression improve with horse assisted therapy (as claimed in non-scientific/popular horse literature). Measurements are taken using Hopkins Symptom Check List (HSCL-25) and Severity Indices of Personality Problems (SIPP-118) from data recorded in the Department's YATEP data base.

  2. Improved self-esteem

    Time frame: Winthin the treatment period of upto 3 months

    The measure tests whether self-esteem improves with horse assisted therapy (as claimed in non-scientific/popular horse literature). Improvement will be measured using the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale from data recorded in the Department's YATEP data base.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Oslo University Hospital

Other

Collaborators

  • Swedish-Norwegian Foundation for Equine Research
  • The Research Council of Norway

Registry information

Official study title

The Impact of Horse Assisted Therapy (HAT) on Treatment Outcomes

Acronym: HAT

Important dates

Study start
2013
Primary completion
2016
Study completion
2016
First posted
Feb 21, 2013
Registry last updated
Oct 8, 2020

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.