Complementary horse-assisted therapy for substance use disorders: a randomized controlled trial.

Area of Science:

• Addiction Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Treatment completion remains a significant challenge in managing substance use disorders (SUDs).
• Previous research suggested complementary horse-assisted therapy (cHAT) may improve treatment retention and completion rates compared to standard care.
• This study aimed to further evaluate the efficacy of cHAT in SUD treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of complementary horse-assisted therapy (cHAT) on treatment completion rates for patients with substance use disorders (SUDs).
• To assess secondary outcomes including dropout rates, treatment transfers, and duration of treatment.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 50 patients undergoing residential SUD treatment.
• Participants were allocated to either cHAT or treatment as usual alone (TAU-only).
• Primary endpoint was treatment completion; secondary endpoints included dropout, transfer, and time in treatment.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant association was found between cHAT and treatment outcomes among the 37 recruited participants.
• Challenges included high transfer rates, variable cHAT attendance, and temporary exits.
• The cHAT group had a 44% completion rate versus 32% in the TAU-only group, suggesting potential benefits.

Conclusions:

• The study may have been underpowered to detect a significant effect of cHAT on SUD treatment retention or completion.
• Further research with larger sample sizes and observational studies using repeated measures is recommended.
• cHAT shows promise for improving SUD treatment outcomes, meriting additional investigation.