Therapists' and teachers' views on the effects of hippotherapy

Žgur, Erna (author), Jerman, Janez (author)

Lifelong learning and training of persons with severe intellectual disabilities (ID) involve a suitable rehabilitation programme. They include different neurotherapeutic methods and procedures. Hippotherapy has recently been recognized as one such method of medical treatment that might be useful for this purpose. In this study, we were interested in the views of various professional workers (special education and rehabilitation teachers, work therapists, speech and language therapists and physiotherapists) on hippotherapy. These professionals were all engaged in education and training of persons with special needs, mainly persons with ID and motor impairment. Results showed the general difference between professional workers in evaluating the effects of hippotherapy (improvement of perception, sensory integration, attention, concentration, speech and language, as well as broader social communication, motor skills, relaxation, self-concept, emotional expression). Statistically significant difference was determined in teachers' evaluation of the effects of hippotherapy. We can conclude that the positive effects of hippotherapy are better recognised by the teachers who are in direct day-to-day contact with the observed students.

• Language: English
• Keywords: hippotherapy, attitude of professional workers towards hippotherapy
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: Str. 6-17
• Numbering: Vol. 14, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-124943
• UDC: 615.825:798.2:376
• ISSN on article: 1855-0541
• DOI: 10.12959/issn.1855-0541.IIASS-2021-no1-art1
• COBISS.SI-ID: 47444995

Copyright

Podatek o licenci CC BY-NC je naveden na pristajalni strani članka (glej zgoraj izvorni URL). (Datum opombe: 11. 9. 2025)

• Publication date in RUL: 02.03.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Innovative issues and approaches in social sciences
• Publisher: ERUDIO Center for Higher Education
• ISSN: 1855-0541
• COBISS.SI-ID: 234841088

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: hipoterapija, terapija s konji, učitelji, terapevti, strokovnjaki