Graduation Year

2022

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Stacey Wood

Reader 2

Jennifer Groscup

Reader 3

n/a

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© YYYY Sarah R Freeman

Abstract

Abstract

Introduction: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is the presence of unrelenting anxiety that interferes with one’s functioning. GAD is now the major mental health problem in college students. Treatment of GAD usually uses drugs and/or traditional talk therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The literature has determined that horse therapy is an effective therapy in treating other disorders and may be particularly effective in treating GAD because of its experiential and therapeutic nature. This thesis will evaluate horse therapy as a treatment for GAD in a college student population.

Methods: This study proposes to investigate the effectiveness of horse therapy in treating GAD in a college population. Participants from the Claremont Colleges will be randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. The primary outcome is the change of GAD-7 scores before, immediately after treatment, and three months after treatment.

Anticipated Result: It is anticipated that GAD-7 scores will improve immediately after horse therapy and remain improved three months after completion of horse therapy in the experimental group.

Significance: Horse Therapy is a novel form of therapy that may be particularly useful in treating GAD and therefore has both scholarly and societal merit.

Conclusion: It is expected that horse therapy will be an effective treatment for GAD and could be used instead or in addition to CBT and related talk therapies.

This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

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