Table 1 Variables investigated during the analysis and their definitions
Variable | Definition |
|---|---|
Sample | participants below 18 years of age with special needs, diagnosed according to DSM or BNO criteria, see ‘disorders’, number of participants and their age was noted (see 3.2. Age of the patients and the special needs represented) |
Disorder | the type of disorder the child owned, i.e. attention deficit or/and hyperactivity disorder, autism cerebral palsy, developmental delay, developmental dysphasia dyspraxia, neurological disorder, physiological disorders, physical disability |
Study design | design used to answer a particular research question is determined by the nature of question, i.e. randomized-controlled trial, non-randomized controlled trial, cluster randomized trial, pilot (not specified), survey |
Animal | the animal involved in the program, i.e. dog, horse (see 3.1. Animals involved in the therapies) |
Session duration | the length of the sessions given in minutes (see 3.3. Session and Program Duration by Age) |
Program duration | the length of the program given in weeks or months (see 3.3. Session and Program Duration by Age) |
Outcome variables | research outputs (physiological indicators) measured in the programs were collected to conduct content analysis regarding the focus of the research to determine and categorise the main focus of development (see 3.4. Outcome indicators); categorisation was carried out parallelly and independently by three authors (KEK, ÉZB, BL), then the authors checked the category system and the categories, and their content were unified at the end of the process |