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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Eat Behav. 2022 Sep 30;47:101673. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2022.101673

Table 1.

Characteristics of included studies

Authors Year Design Population Population statistics Age Sample size Study arms or qualitative method
Cumella, 2014 No-control variable-dose treatment outcome study Inpatient adult women with AN, BN and EDNOS 72 females, 33 % BN, 32% AN, 35% EDNOS 92% white, 1 each of African, Asian, Native American, and 3 multi-racial 18–49 (M = 26, SD = 7.5) 72 receiving trx TAU with varying amounts of EAP
Dezutti, 2013 Case studies Female adolescents and adults at eating disorder inpatient 7 female adolescents and adults Not given 7 trx (1) EAP
Helm, 2009 Multiple case study Adult women with AN and BN 3 females 25, 27, and 40 3 trx (1) EAP
Kingston, 2008 Qualitative Therapists who use EAP with EDs 7 females, 3 males Not given 10 therapists Structured interview assessed via thematic analysis
Lac, 2017 Case study 16-year-old with AN, just out of inpatient 1 female 16 1 trx (1) EAP
Lutter, 2008; Lutter, Smith-Osborne, 2011 Retrospect chart review, mixed methods Inpatient adult women with AN, BN, EDNOS, staying 30+ days 72 females 18–50 (M=26, SD=7.5) 72 trx (1) EAP pre vs post With narrative analysis and thematic coding
Schenk, 2009 Non-randomized pilot Young adult women with AN, BN, and EDNOS 32 females, BMI (Mexperimental = 18.18, Mcontrol = 20.63 15–23 (M=17.6, SD 2.5) 25 trx vs 7 control (1) dolphin-assisted therapy program vs (2) TAU
Sharpe, 2013 Qualitative Adult woman with AN, BN, and OSFED 12 females 19–49 12 trx, 6 described (1) Equine-Facilitated Counselling group assessed via hermeneutic phenomenology
Stefanini, 2015 RCT Children and adolescents with psychiatric diagnoses (64.7% EDs) 8 males and 9 females in each group 11–17 at baseline (M=15.91, SD=1.73) 34 total, 17 trx / 17 control (1) TAU vs (2) TAU with dog animal-assisted therapy
Stefanini, 2016 RCT Children and adolescents with severe psychiatric diagnoses (60% EDs) 9 males and 11 females in each group 11–17 40 total, 20 trx / 20 control (1) TAU vs (2) TAU with dog animal-assisted therapy
Træen, 2012 Qualitative ED therapists using group-based EAP 5 females with 2–5 years of clinical experience in the treatment of eating disorders 37–44 years 6 therapists Semi structured, assessed via qualitative content analysis

Note: AN = anorexia nervosa, BN = bulimia nervosa, EAP = equine assisted psychotherapy, ED = eating disorder, OSFED = other specified feeding and eating disorders, RCT = randomized controlled trial, TAU = treatment as usual, trx = treatment