The Effectiveness of Equine-Assisted Mental Health Interventions for Youth: A Meta-Analysis of Controlled Studies

Youth have experienced an increase in mental health concerns and can be challenging to work with using traditional talk-based prevention and treatment options. This meta-analysis aimed to synthesize existing studies on the effectiveness of equine-assisted interventions with youth for psychosocial outcomes, such as internalizing and externalizing problems, adaptive efficacy, self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. Search and selection procedures involved screening 3525 records to yield 16 controlled studies published between 2009 and 2021 with 1009 participants. The results showed a statistically significant, homogenous, and medium effect for the overall effectiveness of equine interventions for improving overall psychosocial outcomes for youth ( n = 16, d = .535, 95% CI [.345, .726], p