Hästen som hälsofrämjande faktor

Sammanfattning: Research into the horse's role in social work has increased, and there is evidence that the horse can be an important factor in treatment. It created an interest to study if the horse can also serve as a health promoting factor. The aim of this study is to examine the meaning of interests and to clarify and analyze the horse's importance for a sense of coherence. Antonovsky has formulated the concept sense of coherence which led to a standardized questionnaire that measures how well difficulties in everyday life are handled. Respondents were girls in upper secondary school. They were divided into three groups. One group who did not do any sport, one group who rode horses, and one group who had some other sport as their interest. The study showed a clear difference in the sense of coherence between the groups. The group who rode horses had a stronger sense of coherence than the other two groups. The difference was statistically significant. The group who had some other sport as their interest had also a stronger sense of coherence than the group who didn´t do any sport at all. The result of the study shows that the horse can be seen as a health promoting factor.