Self-Management Intervention for Attention and Executive Functions Using Equine-Assisted Occupational Therapy Among Children Aged 6–14 Diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, is currently one of the most common diagnoses given to children. Children with ADHD have a unique cognitive profile that involves difficulties in executive functions (EFs) and in the self-management system of the brain, and are at higher risk for educational failure, social and emotional difficulties, and high risk behavior. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of self-management intervention for attention and executive functions using equine-assisted occupational therapy (STABLE-OT) for school-aged children with ADHD. Design: A pre–post design was used in the intervention. Setting/location: The study was conducted at two riding school stables is Israel. Subjects: Twenty-five 6–14-year-old children (3 girls, 22 boys, age: 7.8–12.3 years, M = 9.41 ± 1.75) diagnosed with ADHD participated in a therapeutic equestrian riding intervention. Intervention: The intervention included structured 45-min sessions for 12 weeks, while integrating child- and family-centered strategy acquisition and immediate feedback principles. Outcome measures: Their EF and occupational performance were evaluated pre- and post-intervention, using The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). Results: Results showed a significant improvement in EF, as reflected by statistically significant decreases in the Global Executive Composite (GEC; t = 2.801; p = 0.01), metacognitive index (t = 3.873; p = 0.001), working memory (t = 2.476; p = 0.021), monitor (t = 2.359; p = 0.027), and initiation (t = 3.204; p = 0.004) subscales of the BRIEF questionnaire. A statistically (p < 0.001) and clinically significant improvement was also found in the COPM performance and satisfaction scales. Conclusions: This study provides key preliminary evidence supporting the effectiveness of an individual equine-assisted OT intervention for children with ADHD. It constitutes an initial step toward clinical implementation of such therapeutic approaches, and is expected to spark further research in this area.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".