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A Program Evaluation: Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy Outcomes for Children and Adolescents

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Abstract

This study evaluates early outcomes of a program in the Midwest United States adhering to the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) model of equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) involving a licensed mental health professional, an equine specialist, and horses or donkeys in the service provision. Designed to impact social behavior in children and adolescents struggling with issues of mental health diagnosis and/or family-home issues, the topics central to the program include skill building such as leadership, listening, emotional self-control, problem-solving, setting boundaries, and self-awareness. Data from the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC-2), Second Edition, was collected for 19 participants, from both their parents and teachers, following participation in the 10-week program. Overall, results are mixed with several promising findings that require more exploration. Paired-samples t-tests indicate that some participants demonstrated significant improvement in both primary and composite scales that served as a framework for pre and post testing (Reynolds and Kamphaus in BASC-2: Behavioral assessment system for children. Minneapolis, MN, Reynolds, C., & Kamphaus, R. W. (2004). BASC-2: Behavioral assessment system for children. Minneapolis, MN) and included: anxiety, social skills, study skills, anger control, aggression. The authors discuss ways to augment the effectiveness of program evaluation in EAP.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the staff, Board members, horses, donkeys, clients and their families of PBJ Connections.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Carole Harvey

  2. PBJ Connections, Pataskala, OH, USA

    Holly Jedlicka

  3. Columbus, OH, USA

    Sandra Martinez

Authors
  1. Carole Harvey
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  2. Holly Jedlicka
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  3. Sandra Martinez
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection was performed by PBJ Connections staff under the direction of Holly Jedlicka. Material preparation and data analysis were performed by Sandra Martinez. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Carole Harvey.

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Correspondence to Carole Harvey.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The Ohio State University Institutional Review Board has determined that no IRB review is required. The de-identified outcome data analyzed was collected as part of the PONY Program implementation, 2011–2014.

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Harvey, C., Jedlicka, H. & Martinez, S. A Program Evaluation: Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy Outcomes for Children and Adolescents. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 37, 665–675 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-020-00705-0

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