Equine-facilitated interventions have shown promise for facilitating emotional and behavioural changes in diverse groups. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of an equine workshop for vulnerable Guatemalan youth using a mixed-method approach. The 37 participants (M age = 18.22, SD = 2.25, 14 girls) came from difficult circumstances including poverty and other risks. Using a wait-list control group design with random assignment, the effects of a 2-day equine-based workshop were evaluated. Participants completed quantitative measures of leadership, emotion regulation, aggression, and interpersonal response to threat. Mentors completed reports of aggression and prosocial behaviour. Self-reported leadership increased significantly in the group receiving the intervention; mentor reports of aggression revealed significant decreases. Focus groups with participants and family members reported multiple benefits, including improved emotion regulation. Equinebased interventions may provide at-risk Guatemalan youth with tools of leadership, reduced violence and aggression, and better emotion regulation.Characterized as Latin America's youngest nation due to its high percentage of youth, Guatemala is a country in which issues of young people should be at the forefront (Population Reference Bureau, 2011). Of the country's nearly 15 million people, nearly 60% are aged 25 or younger (Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 2016). Although they comprise a large percentage of the population, many Guatemalan youth live in difficult circumstances. Poverty represents a significant challenge to their well-being with two-thirds of the country's urban population living in slums (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund [UNICEF, 2008]). Categorized by the World Bank (2016) as a lower middle-income country, over 50% of the population lives below the poverty line. Many problems like malnutrition (Guatemala has the fourth highest rate in the world) are exacerbated in rural areas and are more severe for women and girls (World Food Programme (WFP), 2016).Beyond poverty, physical and sexual violence are major risks for Guatemala's young people (UNICEF, 2014b). When asked if they had been robbed in the last month, for example, 36% of Guatemalan sixth graders said yes (UNICEF, 2014a). For victims from birth to 19 years, the country has the second highest homicide rate in the world. Furthermore, homicide is the leading cause of death among the country's adolescent boys (UNICEF, 2014a). In addition, approximately 25% of Guatemalan adolescent
Community and family violence are endemic in Guatemala. We evaluated the effectiveness of a horse-handling program to reduce violent attitudes and aggressive behavior. Eighteen community members who worked with horses in their daily lives (16 men, 2 women, ages 15 to 58) participated in four weekly sessions of embodied experiences with horses. The program taught Monty Roberts’ Join-Up ® , a method of non-violent handling, as well as desensitization of horses to feared objects. Compared to the pretest, on a posttest participants were less likely to endorse violent attitudes with respect to wife-beating, corporal punishment of children, and physical punishment of horses. Their horses also were less reactive to the owner’s approach. Female relatives reported that following the program participants provided better care for horses and were calmer and less aggressive with other people. These findings imply that an equine-facilitated program shows promise for transforming communities in which violence is prevalent.
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