Posttraumatic Growth in Veterans

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Table of Contents

Research Aim and Questions
Quantitative SEM and Possible Datasets
Questions
One-Page Specific Aims
Statement of Problem/Background/Purpose
Implications
PTG Measures and Definition
War Veterans and PTG
Goal-Setting
References

Research Aim and Questions

The life satisfaction of veterans who experienced war events is a prominent topic of research for social workers and psychologists. The Posttraumatic Growth framework (PTG) has been suggested as a promising tool to improve the mental state of individuals who have undergone military training and participated in combat, allowing them to overcome the negative effects of inflicted trauma (Stevelink et al., 2018). The research proposes that PTG can be used as a framework that focuses on the individual’s capacity to implement their personal resources in the battle against trauma (Morgan et al., 2017; Mattson et al., 2018). Stein et al. (2018) discuss the idea of posttraumatic growth as an attempt to improve one’s condition through the provision of external or internal resources that assist the person in achieving their goals. Therefore, the current research aims to establish the factors of posttraumatic growth that facilitate goal-setting in war veterans after undergoing PTG therapy or experiencing PTG.

Given the discussed information, the current study proposes a question for research. As such, which aspects of posttraumatic growth in war veterans can facilitate the process of personal long-term goal-setting? It is well-known that traumatizing experiences can hinder the achievement of aims in veterans, decreasing the motivation to establish and attain long-term goals due to psychological distress (Mattson et al., 2018). However, the PTG approach has been shown that therapy that initializes positive growth not only affects the person’s well-being but also increases the desire to create and achieve targets (Tedeschi et al., 2018). Although several studies have noted this trend, it is yet unclear which factors of PTG enhance goal-setting processes in war veterans, thus suggesting a novel area of research.

Quantitative SEM and Possible Datasets

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) has been successfully used by scholars as a method of understanding particular concepts. As SEM allows explaining the connections between measured and non-measured variables, it is extremely useful when exploring phenomena linked to psychological notions (Spero, 2016). In veteran research, SEM was used by Morgan et al. (2017) to investigate the connection between PTG, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and life satisfaction in military veterans. The authors conducted a questionnaire among war veterans, assessing how PTG is associated with PTSD and life satisfaction and whether core beliefs and rumination played a role in achieving PTG.

The findings show that PTG is related to deliberate rumination, which is the individual’s perception of the traumatic event enhanced by PTG, while PTG was connected to higher life satisfaction. From this perspective, PTG can indeed enhance the veterans’ perceptions of trauma; as life satisfaction has been suggested to be linked with goal-setting, PTG might positively impact goal creation in veterans (Morgan et al., 2017). Although the authors have not published the dataset used for the analysis, the questionnaires used can be accessed and utilized for future studies.

A study that implements SEM was performed by Spero (2016), who explored how experiencing PTG is connected to the shattering of world beliefs. It is reported that veterans whose set of beliefs or life goals is shattered but then restructured are more likely to report PTG. As such, it is stated that world beliefs can be equal to goals. However, it is yet unclear whether the restructuring promotes PTG or if PTG can initiate a new goal-setting process. Similarly, while no datasets are available from the two mentioned researchers, the questionnaires can be utilized freely.

Questions

Population: Veterans
Key concepts: Posttraumatic growth, goal-setting, life satisfaction, SEM
Research topic (for now): Goal-setting via posttraumatic growth in military veterans: factors facilitating goal-creation

One-Page Specific Aims

Statement of Problem/Background/Purpose

Traumatizing experience often prevents military veterans from performing numerous activities due to its negative effects. Lowered life satisfaction, shattering of world beliefs, and decreased motivation to attain goals can occur after undergoing military service or participating in war actions (Morgan et al., 2017). Although PTG has been suggested as a promising tool for addressing such concerns and resolving the adverse psychological consequences, its utilization to establish long-term aims is still to be explored. As such, PTG is especially useful when managing negative experiences, and it can significantly improve the veterans’ resilience; it has also been argued that PTG allows for the use of external and external resources needed to achieve targets (Morgan et al., 2017; Tedeschi et al., 2018). However, it is not yet clear how PTG might promote goal-setting and which factors influence the emergence of motivation to create personal objectives. Therefore, the problem statement for this study proposes that it is necessary to assess PTG as an instrument for improving goal-setting in veterans. This research aims to examine whether PTG therapy increases military veterans’ desire to establish long-term personal goals as opposed to such desire before undergoing therapy.

Implications

In the future, the results of this study can be implemented to broaden the understanding of PTG and its impact on the psychological well-being of the veteran population. Goal-setting is of tremendous importance for life satisfaction and welfare, and understanding how to facilitate goal-setting in veterans can tremendously improve the practical approach to mental rehabilitation. Based on the findings, it might be possible to utilize PTG therapy as an aid for veterans experiencing a lack of motivation to follow particular goals, enhancing the social work approaches to veteran assistance.

PTG Measures and Definition

PTG is most commonly defined as a process of positive transformation following trauma. Although a precise definition has not been developed, the authors who introduced this term, Tedeschi and Calhoun, suggest that PTG is a “positive transformation following a struggle with trauma or highly challenging circumstances” (Sanki & O’Connor, 2021, p. 2). From this perspective, PTG is the positive change occurring as a result of coping with traumatic events and reflecting on the acquired experience. Thus, the outcome of PTG is the person’s developmental growth and acceptance of distress as a part of life. It is proposed that any human being is inherently seeking to return to a state of well-being which is disrupted after a traumatizing encounter (Tedeschi & Moore, 2021). Through PTG, the individual can re-establish their well-being, resuming the normal flow of life. In this regard, PTG is seen as an aspect of one’s mental health that promotes coping with trauma, its nature being the innate desire to maintain psychological welfare after excessive stress (Schubert & Schmidt, 2016). However, given the differences in personal capacities for growth, some individuals require additional therapeutic support to ensure adequate growth and re-establishment of their normal mental condition.

Based on this understanding of PTG, Tedeschi and Calhoun developed a PTG Inventory (PTGI) that assesses whether an individual experienced PTG. Other measures have also been introduced, including PTGI’s short form (PTGI-SF), Stress-Related Benefit Scales (SRGS), Benefit Finding Scale (BFS), and other instruments that examine whether the positive change in five primary domains has been achieved (Schubert & Schmidt, 2016). As such, Mattson et al. (2018) investigated how coping style, personality traits, and their interactions impact PTSD-related PTG, using PTGI as a primary assessment instrument. Another research by Morgan et al. (2017) utilized the same questionnaire to establish whether the facilitation of PTG could improve military veterans’ life satisfaction.

A different approach was adopted by Spero (2016), who showed that PTG is connected to the process of shattering world beliefs through the use of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Mark et al. (2018) evaluated a cluster of studies that implemented PTGI and PTGI-SF, reporting that both of these measures are valid options for exploring PTG occurrence. In the mentioned studies, PTG is most often considered a latent variable, as this concept cannot be directly measured and must be adapted using an appropriate methodology (Tedeschi et al., 2018). SEM allows for such adaptation and understanding of the connections between the notions researched.

War Veterans and PTG

In military research, PTG is identified similarly to the aforementioned definitions. However, the origin of trauma is typically connected to experiences obtained during military service, such as participating in war encounters and witnessing gruesome events (Mark et al., 2018). In addition, as veterans frequently suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the possibility of its occurrence must also be accounted for when conducting PTG military research.

Goal-Setting

In academic literature, goal-setting is a crucial part of studies that explore human behavior. Psychology interprets goal-setting as a “detailed planning of what the person will do, including a definition of the behavior specifying frequency, intensity or duration as well as at least one context” (Eckhoff & Weiss, 2020, p. 277). Therefore, goal-setting can be seen as creating a detailed objective with a specific outcome expected to be completed in a particular timeframe. Based on this assumption, Locke and Latham developed the goal-setting theory, which proposed that goals are intentionally chosen (Locke & Latham, 2019). Studies frequently utilize goal-setting theory as a framework that adequately defines this phenomenon and introduces strategies for measuring how goal-setting is related to other types of human behavior and personality characteristics (Locke & Latham, 2019). The methods used are usually questionnaires and interviews that identify whether goal-setting has occurred.

References

Eckhoff, D. O., & Weiss, J. (2020). Goal setting: A concept analysis.Nursing Forum, 55(2), 275–281. Web.

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2019). The development of goal-setting theory: A half-century retrospective. Motivation Science, 5(2), 93–105. Web.

Mattson, E., James, L., & Engdahl, B. (2018). Personality factors and their impact on PTSD and posttraumatic growth is mediated by coping style among OIF/OEF veterans. Military medicine, 183(9-10).

Morgan, J. K., Desmarais, S. L., Mitchell, R. E., & Simons-Rudolph, J. M. (2017). Posttraumatic stress, posttraumatic growth, and satisfaction with life in military veterans. Military Psychology, 29(5), 434-447.

Sanki, M., & O’Connor, S. A. (2021). Developing an understanding of Post Traumatic Growth: Implications and application for research and intervention. International Journal of Wellbeing, 11(2), 1-19. Web.

Schubert, C. F., Schmidt, U., & Rosner, R. (2016). Posttraumatic growth in populations with posttraumatic stress disorder—a systematic review on growth-related psychological constructs and biological variables.Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 23(6), 469–486. Web.

Spero, R. A. (2016). The trajectory of coping with trauma: Meaning-making as a factor in determining the trauma outcome for combat veterans [Doctor’s Dissertation, West Virginia University]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Stevelink, S. A., Mark, K. M., Fear, N. T., and Choi, J. (2018). Posttraumatic growth in the military: a systematic review.Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 75(12). Web.

Tedeschi, R. G., & Moore, B. A. (2021). Posttraumatic growth as an integrative therapeutic philosophy. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 31(2), 180–194. Web.

Tedeschi, R. G., Shakespeare-Finch, J., Taku, K., & Calhoun, L. G. (2018). Posttraumatic growth: Theory, research, and applications. Taylor & Francis.

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