The Effectiveness of an Equine-Assisted Group Psychotherapy Program on Military Veterans with PTSD: A Program Evaluation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an 8-week equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) group program (Horse Power Project) on the reduction of PTSD symptoms in military Veterans with PTSD. A single-case research design A-B-A methodology study where each participant served as their own control was conducted on Veterans (N = 14). Data was collected throughout three phases of the study: baseline, intervention and follow-up. Participation in an 8-week EAP program (Horse Power Project) was associated with improvements of PTSD symptoms as measured by the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). To further investigate the effectiveness of the Horse Power program, participants were also assessed on various aspects of their quality of life using the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL–BREF) and the reflection questions. The results of this study suggest that the Horse Power Project program effectively reduces PTSD symptoms for military Veterans with PTSD who volunteer to participate in this program. All 14 participants experienced improvement in reported PTSD symptoms from the baseline phase through the intervention phase, which then held constant through the one week follow-up phase. Nine of the fourteen participants had moderately to strong effect sizes in improvements in their PTSD symptoms. The quality of life assessment and responses to reflection questions supported the effectiveness of this program even for individuals who did not show improvement in their PTSD symptomology further supporting the growing research of EAP.