The Effect of Hippotherapy on The Development of Life Satisfaction, Health Literacy and Healthism Attitude of Young Adults After Cancer Treatment

Overview

This research aims to evaluate the impact of hippotherapy on life satisfaction, health literacy, and health culture among young adults who have undergone cancer treatment. The study underscores the importance of providing support to patients post-cancer treatment. While the literature extensively supports the use of animal-assisted interventions in nursing care plans and practices, there is a notable absence of studies examining the holistic effects of hippotherapy on cancer survivors, both nationally and globally. Given that nurses play a pivotal role in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation stages of all diseases, and strive to enhance patient quality of life through comprehensive care, the findings of this project are expected to not only bolster the visibility and professional efficacy of nurses but also inspire similar future research. The research tools employed will determine how complementary supportive practices influence the life satisfaction, health literacy, and health culture of young adults during critical life-shaping periods. These results could provide significant evidence of the nurse's role in patient education, support, and overall care improvement.

Cancer is one of the most important diseases that threaten human health today. It is predicted that the number of cancer survivorship will increase in the future with advances in diagnosis, treatment and care approaches. It is stated that after cancer treatment, individuals have difficulty in continuing treatment due to reasons such as post-treatment side effects, economic and social problems, and their quality of life is negatively affected. It is stated that cancer diagnosis and treatment processes can be observed more specifically in young adults compared to other age groups. It is reported that especially young adults with cancer experience higher levels of depression, worse quality of life and deterioration in body image during treatment, and have difficulty achieving goals related to social, business and academic life. For this reason, it is thought that health professionals have important roles and responsibilities in supporting the lives of young adults, especially after cancer treatment. Nurses should be able to determine the psychosocial needs of individuals, support them in creating positive behavioral changes, empower individuals about coping methods, and take an active role in improving the quality of life of individuals. Complementary methods are one of the approaches frequently included in nurses' care content. Animal-assisted interventions, which are one of the complementary methods, are used at a very limited level in our country. In the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) system, it is stated that Animal Assisted Practices contribute positively to the physical, spiritual and social recovery of the individual. Hippotherapy, also known as horse-assisted therapy, is one of the animal-assisted therapies. They are regularly scheduled activities implemented to provide functionality to individuals' lives and contribute to the improvement of their general health status. With these activities, it is aimed to improve the perception of individuals in the sensory field, to strengthen self-confidence, to relax, to provide peace of mind, courage and self-confidence, to remove fear and discouragement, to eliminate distraction, supporting group speaking training, increasing the ability of the individual to express himself, to provide social support for each individual. It aims to ensure that they are always ready for communication. This project will examine the effect of Hippotherapy on life satisfaction, health literacy and the development of a healthy culture of young adult individuals after cancer treatment. The sample of the research will consist of 40 individuals between the ages of 18-35 who have been diagnosed with cancer and completed their treatment. A life satisfaction scale, health literacy scale, health culture scale and qualitative interview form will be used to collect data in the research. In the implementation of the research, hippotherapy implementation consisting of a total of 5 stations created by the researchers, lasting 30 minutes individually, will be applied to the individuals in the intervention group for 8 weeks, with the participation of the riding coaches. Research data will be collected by the researchers before the implementation (0th), in the 4th and 8th weeks of the implementation.