OPINIONS OF EDUCATIONAL REHABILITATION STUDENTS ON THE PROCESSES OF CHILDREN’S REHABILITATION ASSISTED BY HORSES

Abstract

Horse-assisted rehabilitation has been known since ancient times, and many benefits of therapeutic riding and the relationship between horses and people with special needs are recognized today. Due to the perceived importance of using animals for therapeutic purposes, the Faculty of Education in Osijek offers the elective course “Animal-assisted rehabilitation” in the Undergraduate University Study Programme of Educational Rehabilitation. The aim of this research was to examine the opinions of students about horse-assisted rehabilitation. All students who enrolled in the mentioned course (N=33) participated in the assessment, where they expressed their opinions using a Likert scale to indicate their agreement or disagreement with the proposed statements. The results of the research show that the majority of students agree that horse-assisted rehabilitation can help a child’s psychological development, social skills development, and motor skills development. The results of the research also indicate that the majority of students agree with the statement that it is desirable to develop a therapeutic approach with horses, and even 73% of students would like to repeat the exercise experience in the form of volunteer work.
From the obtained research results, it can be concluded that the topics practically covered in horse-assisted rehabilitation fully fulfilled their purpose in the context of the future profession of an educational rehabilitator, and that there is a possibility of further research in the field of horse-assisted rehabilitation.