Effects of Psychotherapy Incorporating Horses (PIH) on Suicide Risk and Affect Among Psychiatric Inpatients

This dataset originates from a prospective, non-randomized controlled observational study examining the effectiveness of Psychotherapy Incorporating Horses (PIH) in hospitalized psychiatric patients in risk of suicide.

Research hypothesis:
It was hypothesized that participation in PIH would lead to a reduction in suicidal risk and improvements in affective state compared to the control group participating in standard therapeutic workshops.

Data collection:
Data were collected at three predefined intervals during the 8-week observation period:
(1) baseline (week 1, prior to the first targeted therapy session),
(2) mid-intervention (week 3, after the third therapy session), and
(3) post-intervention (week 8, after the final therapy session).

Measures included:
The dataset contains anonymized individual-level data including demographic variables (e.g., age, sex, diagnosis, length of hospitalization, number of previous hospitalizations), variables related to experience with animals, and psychometric outcomes measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). And the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), classified into ten ordinal risk categories in accordance with Scoring and Data Analysis Guide for C-SSRS by Nilsson et al. (2013)

Key findings:
The data indicate changes in affective states and suicidal risk trajectories over time, with greater improvements observed in the experimental group compared to the control group.

Data interpretation and use:
The dataset allows replication of the statistical analyses reported in the associated manuscript, including between-group comparisons and within-subject longitudinal analyses. All data have been fully anonymized in accordance with ethical standards and institutional approval.