Examining the Effectiveness of EAL (EAL)

Examining the Effectiveness of Equine Assisted Learning for Trauma-exposed Public Safety Personnel

This quasi-experiment will evaluate the effectiveness of Equine Assisted Learning for reducing symptoms associated with trauma exposure among public safety personnel (e.g., fire fighters, police, paramedics, etc.).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Trauma
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Equine Assisted Learning

Detailed Description

The purpose of the proposed project is to investigate the effectiveness of Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) for reducing symptoms associated with trauma exposure among public safety personnel. EAL is an intervention in which mental health clinicians and equine specialists work together with clients to address a learning goal via unmounted interaction with a horse. Recent literature indicates that EAL shows promise in addressing a range of mental health diagnoses among a variety of populations, including military and Royal Canadian Mounted Police veterans with PTSD. The EAL intervention will be delivered at Cartier Farms in Spruce Home, Saskatchewan. Research components of this study will be conducted virtually via Zoom.

The investigators will employ a quasi-experimental design with pre-post and follow-up testing. Participants will be assigned one of two groups based on the time that they complete their initial baseline interview: (1) the intervention group will receive the EAL intervention for 8 weeks, while (2) the waitlist control condition will not receive this treatment for the same amount of time. Data on trauma exposure symptom severity will be collected from all participants prior to the start of the the study (baseline), again 8 weeks later (post), and then a final time 3 months later (follow-up). The two conditions will then be compared to determine whether there are differences in trauma exposure symptom severity between groups. To obtain a sufficient sample size while also running appropriately sized interventions of 6-10 participants per session, the researchers will conduct 4-6 rounds of group assignment. All individuals in the waitlist control condition will be offered EAL following their completion of the study.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Saskatchewan
    • Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada, S6V5R2
      • Cartier Farms

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. English-speaking adults;
2. Currently or previously employed as public safety personnel (e.g., police officer, fire fighter, paramedic, healthcare worker, emergency dispatcher, correctional officer);
3. Reside in Saskatchewan;
4. Meet diagnostic criteria for having experienced a Criterion A traumatic event;
5. Able to provide written informed consent;
6. Have access to a smart phone, tablet, or computer with a working microphone and camera; and
7. Have access to consistent and reliable internet.

Exclusion:

1. Meet/met current/past diagnostic criteria for several psychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and neurological conditions;
2. History of severe head trauma with loss of consciousness or history of traumatic brain injury;
3. Have previously completed at least half of the EAL curriculum at Cartier Farms.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Equine Assisted Learning group; Participants in this group will receive 16 sessions of Equine Assisted Learning (EAL), facilitated by a trained clinician at Cartier Farms.	Behavioral: Equine Assisted Learning; EAL is an intervention in which mental health clinicians and equine specialists work together with clients to address a learning goal via unmounted interaction with a horse. It is 16 sessions in length, at a rate of two sessions per week.; Other Names: EAL
No Intervention: Waitlist control group; Participants in the waitlist control group will not receive EAL for the duration of the study.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
PTSD symptomatology	Changes in performance on the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (structured interview) at pre, post, and follow-up.	20 weeks
PTSD symptomatology	Changes in performance on the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 80 with higher scores denoting higher PTSD symptomatology.	20 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Emotion regulation	Changes in performance on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 36 and 180 with higher scores denoting poorer emotion regulation.	20 weeks
Dissociation	Changes in performance on the Multiscale Dissociation Index at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 120 with higher scores denoting higher dissociative symptomatology.	20 weeks
Moral injury	Changes in performance on the Moral Injury Assessment - Public Safety Personnel at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 17 and 102 with higher scores denoting higher moral injury.	20 weeks
Body awareness	Changes in performance on the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness - Version 2 at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 185 with higher scores denoting greater body awareness.	20 weeks
Sleep quality	Changes in performance on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 21 with higher scores denoting poorer sleep quality.	20 weeks
Health complaints	Changes in performance on the Physical Symptoms Questionnaire at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 33 with higher scores denoting more health complaints.	20 weeks
Mental health symptomatology	Changes in performance on the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (structured interview) at pre, post, and follow-up.	20 weeks
Depression, anxiety, and stress symptomatology	Changes in performance on the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 42 with higher scores denoting higher depression, anxiety, and/or stress symptomatology.	20 weeks
Alcohol use disorder symptomatology	Changes in performance on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 40 with higher scores denoting higher AUD symptomatology.	20 weeks
Cannabis use disorder symptomatology	Changes in performance on the Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 32 with higher scores denoting higher CUD symptomatology.	20 weeks
Substance use disorder symptomatology	Changes in performance on the Drug Use Disorder Identification Test at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 44 with higher scores denoting higher SUD symptomatology.	20 weeks
Resilience	Changes in performance on the Brief Resilience Scale at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 6 and 30 with higher scores denoting higher resilience.	20 weeks
Self-compassion	Changes in performance on the Self Compassion Scale at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 26 and 130 with higher scores denoting higher self-compassion.	20 weeks
Health and disability	Changes in performance on World Health Organization's Disability Assessment Schedule 12 at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 100 with higher scores denoting greater disability.	20 weeks
Disability	Changes in performance on the Sheehan Disability Scale at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 44 with higher scores denoting greater disability.	20 weeks
Work functioning and productivity	Changes in performance on Lam's Employment and Productivity Scale at pre, post, and follow-up. Scores can range between 0 and 28 with higher scores denoting more severe work impairment.	20 weeks
Substance involvement	Changes in performance on the World Health Organization's Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Test at pre, post, and follow-up. Each question on the ASSIST has a checklist set of responses to choose from to measure substances used in the past, and each response from questions 2 to 7 has a numerical score. Higher scores indicate more significant substance involvement.	20 weeks
Exposure to childhood trauma	Baseline description of trauma experienced in childhood based on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, which is a 28-item checklist where more endorsed traumatic experiences indicates more exposure to childhood trauma.	Completed once at baseline

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Heart rate variability	Changes in heart rate variability over time, as measured by a Garmin VivoActive 4 smartwatch.	20 weeks
Sleep quality	Changes in sleep quality over time, as measured by a Garmin VivoActive 4 smartwatch.	20 weeks
Experience in EAL	Participant experience in EAL as measured by a semi-structured, qualitative interview.	8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: McMaster University
• Collaborators: University of Saskatchewan; University of Regina
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Margaret McKinnon, PhD, CPsych, McMaster University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 31, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): August 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 28, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 11, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): October 14, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 9, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 2, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: PTSD; trauma; public safety personnel; posttraumatic stress disorder; EAL; first responder; Equine Assisted Learning; horse therapy
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders; Mental Disorders; Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Wounds and Injuries; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
• Other Study ID Numbers: 14547

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No