Veteran Focused Equine Facilitated Mental Health

This dissertation reports on explanatory sequential mixed methods study that sought to understand the effectiveness of a veteran focused equine facilitated mental health (VF-EFMH) program. Forty-nine exit surveys from one specific VF-EFMH program that was offered ten separate times between 2013 and 2017 were analyzed using SPSS software. Results from this analysis suggest that VF-EFMH is effective for reducing depression and anxiety and is of value for participants. Interviews were then conducted with six former participants of the program offerings. Results from analyses of interviews support the quantitative results that VF-EFMH is effective for reducing depression and anxiety and is of value for participants. Further analysis revealed the themes of social connection, internal processing, and the horse are vital to the success of this type of programming