IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i21p14449-d963091.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of Therapeutic Horseback-Riding Program on Social and Communication Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Shihui Chen

    (Department of Kinesiology, Texas A&M University, Texarkana, TX 75503, USA)

  • Yanjie Zhang

    (Physical Education Unit, School of Humanities and Social Science, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 518172, China)

  • Mengxian Zhao

    (School of Physical Education, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China)

  • Xiru Du

    (College of Sport Arts, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou 510075, China)

  • Yongtai Wang

    (College of Health Sciences and Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, USA)

  • Xiaolei Liu

    (Chinese Traditional Regimen Exercise Intervention Research Center, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China)

Abstract

Animal-assisted therapy has become a fast-growing and effective approach for remediating core impairments of children with ASD; however, recent systematic review studies on the effects of AAT in children with ASD have some limitations, including referral to a variety of animal-assisted interventions rather than to horseback-riding therapy alone and the absence of any meta-analysis in systematic reviews. A complete systematic review of the studies that describe the use of THR as an intervention is needed to specifically target the core impairments of children with ASD. The purpose of this study was to employ the systematic review method to synthesize research findings regarding the effects of THR programs on the social interaction and communication skills of children with ASD. We conducted a structured search in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We searched for potentially relevant studies in five databases (Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus) from inception until February 2022. In addition, we manually searched the bibliographies of the included studies to find articles that might otherwise have been missed. We considered articles eligible or ineligible if they satisfied specific inclusion or exclusion criteria. Our results showed that the THR program is an effective direct and alternative therapeutic program that can considerably improve the social behaviors and communication skills of children with ASD and can effectively impact autistic impairments in areas such as social awareness, social cognition, social motivation, and social communication. These findings are in line with those of previous studies; however, we did not find statistical evidence of any effect of THR on the autistic behaviors of irritability, stereotypy, and inappropriate speech. In conclusion, the findings produced by this meta-analysis study provide evidence that THR programs can considerably improve the social behaviors and communication skills of children with ASD.

Suggested Citation

  • Shihui Chen & Yanjie Zhang & Mengxian Zhao & Xiru Du & Yongtai Wang & Xiaolei Liu, 2022. "Effects of Therapeutic Horseback-Riding Program on Social and Communication Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-13, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14449-:d:963091
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14449/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14449/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shengwen Zhou & Sitong Chen & Xiaolei Liu & Yanjie Zhang & Mengxian Zhao & Wenjiao Li, 2022. "Physical Activity Improves Cognition and Activities of Daily Living in Adults with Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Androulla Harris & Joanne M. Williams, 2017. "The Impact of a Horse Riding Intervention on the Social Functioning of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-19, July.
    3. Jinfeng Huang & Chunjie Du & Jianjin Liu & Guangxin Tan, 2020. "Meta-Analysis on Intervention Effects of Physical Activities on Children and Adolescents with Autism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-11, March.
    4. Mengxian Zhao & Shihui Chen & Yonghao You & Yongtai Wang & Yanjie Zhang, 2021. "Effects of a Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program on Social Interaction and Communication in Children with Autism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-11, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ningkun Xiao & Khyber Shinwari & Sergey Kiselev & Xinlin Huang & Baoheng Li & Jingjing Qi, 2023. "Effects of Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-47, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ningkun Xiao & Khyber Shinwari & Sergey Kiselev & Xinlin Huang & Baoheng Li & Jingjing Qi, 2023. "Effects of Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-47, February.
    2. Mengxian Zhao & Shihui Chen & Yonghao You & Yongtai Wang & Yanjie Zhang, 2021. "Effects of a Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program on Social Interaction and Communication in Children with Autism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-11, March.
    3. Íbis A. P. Moraes & Joyce A. Lima & Nadja M. Silva & Amanda O. Simcsik & Ana C. Silveira & Lilian D. C. Menezes & Luciano V. Araújo & Tânia B. Crocetta & Mariana C. Voos & James Tonks & Talita D. Silv, 2022. "Effect of Longitudinal Practice in Real and Virtual Environments on Motor Performance, Physical Activity and Enjoyment in People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Prospective Randomized Crossover Contr," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Temple Grandin, 2019. "Case Study: How Horses Helped a Teenager with Autism Make Friends and Learn How to Work," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-5, July.
    5. Aubrey H. Fine & Alan M. Beck & Zenithson Ng, 2019. "The State of Animal-Assisted Interventions: Addressing the Contemporary Issues That Will Shape the Future," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-19, October.
    6. Xiao-Wei Feng & Maryam Hadizadeh & Jadeera Phaik Geok Cheong, 2022. "Global Trends in Physical-Activity Research of Autism: Bibliometric Analysis Based on the Web of Science Database (1980–2021)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-18, June.
    7. Carlos Eduardo Monteiro & Elirez Da Silva & Ravini Sodré & Frederico Costa & André Soares Trindade & Priscila Bunn & Gabriel Costa e Silva & Fabrízio Di Masi & Estélio Dantas, 2022. "The Effect of Physical Activity on Motor Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-10, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14449-:d:963091. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.