Horse-assisted Intervention, Heart Rate Variability & Stress
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: animal-assisted intervention, watching the countryside.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Psychological Stress. Basic parameters: 18 years — 80 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Austria
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
Horse-assisted Intervention and Heart Rate Variability in Participants Under Stressful Conditions
Overview
In this study, the effects of an animal-assisted intervention on people with increased stress levels are investigated. The data collected will be compared with those of participants with high stress levels but without animal-assisted intervention (participants only observe nature) and with a control group consisting of people without stress exposure. The study will be performed in the following setting: Questionnaire examination on chronic stress, questionnaire on current well-being and heart rate variability (HRV) measurement before the horse-assisted intervention, one HRV measurement and one questionnaire examination (POMS) on current well-being after the horse-assisted intervention, one questionnaire (POMS) on current well-being 5 days after the horse-assisted intervention.
Detailed description
The early recognition of chronic stressors, which are often neglected by those affected until physical symptoms appear, is of essential importance. In addition to psychopharmacological therapy modalities, complementary methods such as animal-assisted intervention should also be considered in order to expand the therapeutic spectrum and thus prevent stress-associated consequential harms as early as possible.
Stress has gained importance in recent years not only in the medical context, but also due to its economic relevance. Chronic stress in particular leads to numerous medically relevant secondary diseases and to increased sick leaves and even permanent incapacity to work. One possible intervention to reduce stress could be animal-assisted intervention.
Primary hypothesis: The use of animal-assisted intervention in people diagnosed with chronic stressful situations will lead to measurable increases in heart rate variability.
Secondary hypothesis: The use of animal-assisted intervention in people diagnosed with chronic stressful situations leads to improved well-being (target parameter: POMS questionnaire)
Interventions
- Behavioral animal-assisted intervention
horse-assisted intervention - Behavioral watching the countryside
just watching the countryside
Primary outcome measures
- Change in heart rate variability [Time frame: Time point 1: Baseline heart rate variability before the animal assisted intervention, Time point 2: heart rate variability immediately after the animal-assisted intervention]
Secondary outcome measures (1)
- Change in state of mood states (Profile of Mood States Questionnaire) [Time frame: Time point 1: Baseline state of mood states before the animal assisted intervention, Time point 2: state of mood states immediately after the animal-assisted intervention]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Male, female and diverse
- Age between 18-75 years
Exclusion criteria
- Animal hair allergies (especially horse hair allergies, fear of horses)
- Acute severe psychiatric conditions (e.g. psychosis)
- Persons, unable to give signed informed consent,
- All persons, who have not signed the informed consent form.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Non-randomized
- Model
- Sequential
- Masking
- Single blind
- Primary purpose
- Prevention
Study locations
Austria · 1 center
- Medical University of Graz — Graz
Identifiers
NCT: NCT05703165 · 34-521