Savannah Wells and Neil Lundberg, Experience and Design Management

Introduction

Young women all over the country are struggling with poor mental health and self-confidence. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2016), 40 percent of young women in the U.S. struggle with depressive symptoms and 30 percent of young women experience symptoms of anxiety. Furthermore, Dove (2008) conducted a nationwide self-esteem study and discovered that 70 percent of girls believe they are not good enough. Unfortunately, these rates are expected to continue rising (Signal, 2016).

These statistics about mental health and self-confidence have serious effects. Depression is the most common risk factor for suicide and anxiety plays a major role in suicide risk as well (Bichell, 2016). Girls with low self-esteem are more likely to engage in negative activities such as disordered eating, cutting, bullying, smoking, or drinking (Dove, 2008). Clearly young women with these types of struggles need to be engaged in programs that build their confidence and teach skills to improve their mental health.

Bridle Up Hope is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping girls build hope, confidence, and resilience through a 14-week equestrian training program. They often serve young women (ages 12-25) who are struggling with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and/or low self-esteem. While Bridle Up Hope does not exclusively serve this population, girls with similar types of struggles often gravitate towards their equestrian training program.

Bridle Up Hope previously gathered qualitative data to show that their program participants gain greater self-confidence, hopefulness, and resilience to tackle their individual challenges. We believe that implementing an assessment tool to track progress will help Bridle Up Hope gather more evidence to demonstrate the program outcomes their clients are experiencing.

Resilience, defined as coping with stress in a positive way, is a skill that individuals can learn and refine. It is associated with a variety of health benefits including longevity, lower rates of depression, and greater satisfaction with life (Harvard, 2017). We have selected the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale for Bridle Up Hope to use because it is designed to track changes in overall resilience among individuals overtime.

We hypothesized that the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale will report significant improvement in overall resilience among participants after their completion of the 14- week equestrian training program.

Methodology

The project was designed to administer the assessment to 100 participants before their first equestrian training lesson (pre-test) and again upon completion of their 14th lesson in the 14-week program (post-test). However, participants begin the program as opening arise rather than simultaneously. Over the last seven months we tried to ensure that each participant completed the pre-test and the post-test. Due to managerial changes within the organization, Bridle Up Hope had trouble with the timing and follow through to make sure that each participant completed the pre-test and the post-test at the appropriate times. Therefore, many of the needed assessments were not completed. 39 girls completed the assessment before the program began and 18 girls took the assessment upon program completion. F

ollowing data collection, significance was determined through a t-test by comparing the overall score at the beginning of the program to the overall score at the end of the program. We also completed a t-test for each item in the scale to determine its significance by comparing its average pre-test and post-test score.

Results

Overall, the data shows statistically significant improvement (p-value= .0004) in overall resilience among participants as a result of participating in Bridle Up Hope’s program. In fact, overall resilience for each individual improved on average by 22 percent.

We also completed a t-test for each individual item in the scale. We found that all items made a statistically significant improvement except for item 3 (trying to see the humorous side of things when faced with problems) and item 7 (the ability to stay focused and think clearly under pressure). The greatest improvement was found for item 4 (the belief that having to cope with stress can make one stronger), which showed on average, a 44 percent improvement upon program completion.

Discussion

While the results of this study seem very promising, there are many limitations. Only two participants completed both the pre-test and the post-test. The sample size was small and uneven (39 pre-tests and 18 post-tests). Furthermore, assessment administration was not systematic. Some assessments were administered by email while others were given using pencil and paper. Many of the post-tests were given many weeks after the program completion rather than immediately after program completion, which could lead to variable results.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest significant gains in resilience as a result of Bridle Up Hope’s equestrian training program. However due to the limitations in this study, our hypothesis that the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale will report significant improvement in overall resilience among program participants remains inconclusive. The findings drawn from the data we gathered could help Bridle Up Hope understand more about their program’s outcomes, but we recommend that the study be repeated using a systematic and controlled process to create more conclusive evidence.

References

Bichell, R., (2016). Suicide rates climb in U.S., especially among adolescent girls. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/sections/healthshots/ 2016/04/22/474888854/suicide-rates-climb-in-u-s-especially- amongadolescent- girls

Harvard Health Letter (2017). Ramp up your resilience! Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/ramp-up-your-resilience

Singal, J. (2016). For 80 years young Americans have been getting more anxious and depressed, and no one is quite sure why. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/03/for-80-years-young-americans-havebeen- getting-more-anxious-and-depressed.html

The Dove Self-Esteem Fund. (2008). Real girls, real pressure: A national report on the state of self-esteem. Retrieved from http://www.isacs.org/misc_files/SelfEsteem_Report%20- %20Dove%20Campaign%20for%20Real%20Beauty.pdf

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2016). United States adolescent mental health facts. Retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/facts-and-stats/nationaland- state-data-sheets/adolescent-mental-health-fact- sheets/unitedstates/ index.html

Williams, T., Gomez, E., Hill, E., Milliken, J., & Gregory, N. (2013). The resiliency and attitudes skills profile: An assessment of factor structure. Illuminare, 11(1), 16-30.