Eureka! Institutional Repository

Children with chronic health conditions face challenges that affect significantly their everyday life. The insecurity related to the progression of the disease affect the mental functioning of the child, disturb the sense of self confidence, self image and often cause mental exhaustion. Continuous treatments, while very important for children's health outcomes, bring some costs to their quality of life. They burden the family and the children's free time. The purpose of the research is to study the quality of life of children who face chronic health conditions and have hippotherapy sessions. Methods: A total of 40 parents of children aged 8-18 who are dealing with chronic health conditions participated in the research. 20 children followed the standard treatment program as usual, while other 20 children took part in hippotherapy sessions at the same time. The parent version of kidscreen 52 was used. Results: Children who received hippotherapy had a higher score than children who did not receive hippotherapy. The domains that had a statistically significant difference were the domain of physical well-being, autonomy, financial resources, and the domain of peers and social support. Conclusion: Participation in hippotherapy sessions positively affects the quality of life of children facing chronic health conditions.