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Equine-Assisted Therapy for Veterans with PTSD: Manual Development and Preliminary Findings.

ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION:Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has attracted great interest despite lacking empirical support, a manual, and a standardized protocol. Our team of experts in EAT and PTSD developed an eight-session group EAT treatment protocol for PTSD (EAT-PTSD) and administered it to two pilot groups of military veterans to assess initial effects. MATERIALS AND METHODS:We describe the development of the treatment manual, which was used with two pilot groups of veterans. Protocol safety, feasibility, and acceptability were assessed by reported adverse events, treatment completion rates, and self-rated patient satisfaction. Preliminary data on PTSD, depressive, and anxiety symptoms and quality of life were collected pretreatment, midpoint, post-treatment, and at 3-month follow up. RESULTS:No adverse events were recorded. All patients completed treatment, reporting high satisfaction. Preliminary data showed decreases in clinician-assessed PTSD and depressive symptoms from pre to post-treatment and follow-up (medium to large effect sizes, d = .54-1.8), with similar trends across self-report measures (d = 0.72-1.6). In our pilot sample, treatment response and remission varied; all patients showed some benefit post-treatment, but gains did not persist at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS:This article presents the first standardized EAT protocol. Highly preliminary results suggest our new manualized group EAT-PTSD appears safe, well-regarded, and well-attended, yielding short-term benefits in symptomatology and quality of life if unclear length of effect. Future research should test this alternative treatment for PTSD more rigorously.

SUBMITTER: Arnon S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7282489 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Equine-Assisted Therapy for Veterans with PTSD: Manual Development and Preliminary Findings.

Arnon Shay S Fisher Prudence W PW Pickover Alison A Lowell Ari A Turner J Blake JB Hilburn Anne A Jacob-McVey Jody J Malajian Bonnie E BE Farber Debra G DG Hamilton Jane F JF Hamilton Allan A Markowitz John C JC Neria Yuval Y

Military medicine 20200601 5-6

<h4>Introduction</h4>Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has attracted great interest despite lacking empirical support, a manual, and a standardized protocol. Our team of experts in EAT and PTSD developed an eight-session group EAT treatment protocol for PTSD (EAT-PTSD) and administered it to two pilot groups of military veterans to assess initial effects.<h4>Materials and methods</h4>We describe the development of the treatment manual, which was used with tw ...[more]

PMID: 32034416

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Project description:ObjectiveScalable, efficiently delivered treatments are needed to address the needs of women Veterans with PTSD. This randomized clinical trial compared an online, coach-assisted cognitive behavioral intervention tailored for women Veterans with PTSD to phone monitoring only.MethodWomen Veterans who met diagnostic criteria for PTSD were randomized to an 8-week web-based intervention, called DElivery of Self TRaining and Education for Stressful Situations (DESTRESS)-Women Veterans version (WV), or to phone monitoring only (N = 102). DESTRESS-WV consisted of online sessions and 15-min weekly phone calls from a study coach. Phone monitoring included 15-min weekly phone calls from a study coach to offer general support. PTSD symptom severity (PTSD Symptom-Checklist-Version 5 [PCL-5]) was evaluated pre and posttreatment, and at 3 and 6 months posttreatment.ResultsMore participants completed phone monitoring than DESTRESS-WV (96% vs. 76%, p = 0.01), although treatment satisfaction was significantly greater in the DESTRESS-WV condition. We failed to confirm the superiority of DESTRESS-WV in intent-to-treat slope changes in PTSD symptom severity. Both treatments were associated with significant reductions in PTSD symptom severity over time. However, post hoc analyses of treatment completers and of those with baseline PCL ≥ 33 revealed that the DESTRESS-WV group had greater improvement in PTSD symptom severity relative to phone monitoring with significant differences at the 3-month follow-up assessment.ConclusionsBoth DESTRESS-WV and phone monitoring resulted in significant improvements in women Veterans' PTSD symptoms. DESTRESS-WV may be an appropriate care model for women Veterans who can engage in the demands of the treatment and have higher baseline symptoms. Future research should explore characteristics of and the methods of reliably identifying women Veterans who are most likely to benefit. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Dataset Information

Equine-Assisted Therapy for Veterans with PTSD: Manual Development and Preliminary Findings.

Publications

Equine-Assisted Therapy for Veterans with PTSD: Manual Development and Preliminary Findings.

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