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Soldiers are exposed to high-stress environments and near-death experiences that affect their mental health when they retire. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common among veterans, who are at a greater risk of physical and mental health disorders. According to Wilkins et al. (2021), veterans with PTSD experience chronic pain, substance abuse, significant depressive disorder, self-sabotaging health behaviors, and poor cardiovascular and metabolic health. Veterans’ quality of life diminishes as PTSD leads to restlessness, nightmares, irritability, anger, and other negative manifestations. Therefore, researchers have engaged in exploring different intervention programs to help decrease or eliminate PTSD symptoms. One such study by Zaccari et al. (2020) investigated the impacts of yoga intervention on cognitive functioning, symptoms of PTSD, and biological stress response in veterans diagnosed with the disorder. This discussion reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the method, sampling, and validity of Zaccari et al. (2020) research.
Exercise programs are proposed as appropriate interventions to help veterans with cognitive functions. In the introduction, Zaccari et al. (2020) paper explain the relationship between the variable used in the research. For instance, the authors noted that PTSD leads to cognitive impairment, often mediated by dysregulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA), a common body response to stress. High levels of the adrenal hormone cortisol show possible impairment of cognitive performance (Zaccari et al., 2020). The assertions reported in the article are supported by cited and referenced scientific studies, which enhances the validity of this experiment. Furthermore, the introduction allows the readers to understand the variables measured in this quasi-experimental assessment. The values measured were cognitive performance, self-reported symptoms of PTSD, and salivary cortisol levels.
The researchers collected the measures from the participants twice, pre-and post-intervention. The pretest and posttest designs are appropriate in this quasi-experiment because they allow for comparing scores before and after the yoga intervention. This approach was necessary for the experiment because it helped determine how much change or growth the veterans experienced after completing the yoga program. However, this design is susceptible to internal validity threats, resulting in possible biases to achieve the desired results. This threat is exacerbated by self-reporting measures to collect mental health symptoms, questionnaires, and salivary cortisol. This self-report bias is a challenge acknowledged by Zaccari et al. (2020) because the respondents used in the study could lie about their behaviors, feelings, and thoughts. Such shortcomings lowered the validity of the research, but the use of multiple, reliable, and standardized questionnaires helped mitigate the limitations. The paired t-tests and correlational analyses strengthened the investigation because they allowed the researchers to evaluate time-series variables from the same subjects.
The researchers targeted the specific participants for this study, who were drawn from VAPORHCS. This method is effective in ensuring that only an adequate number and relevant subjects partake in the experiments. It offered the assurance that all respondents were veterans diagnosed with PTSD and had attempted various methods of dealing with trauma. This approach costs less and does not take a lot of time, allowing the researchers to focus on other crucial details that enhance the validity and reliability of the results.
Additionally, the accuracy of data collected using this sampling technique is high and was further strengthened by pretest and posttest design. However, the sample size was small, given only 27 members were recruited for the study. Of these people, 18 people completed the intervention program, and 11 dropped out. This implies that while the findings might have been valid, it puts the reliability of the research into question. The low number of subjects means that the results would vary considerably, and the margin of error increases, leading to possible biases when concluding. These problems could have been addressed by having a large sample size, collecting data using clinically rated scales, and following up for an extended period of one year.
References
Wilkins, S. S., Melrose, R. J., Hall, K. S., Blanchard, E., Castle, S. C., Kopp, T., Katzel, L. I., Holder, A., Alexander, N., McDonald, M. K., Tayade, A., Forman, D. E., Abbate, L. M., Harris, R., Valencia, W. M., Morey, M. C., & Lee, C. C. (2021). PTSD improvement associated with social connectedness in gerofit veterans exercise program. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 69(4), 1045-1050.
Zaccari, B., Callahan, M. L., Storzbach, D., McFarlane, N., Hudson, R., & Loftis, J. M. (2020). Yoga for veterans with PTSD: Cognitive functioning, mental health, and salivary cortisol. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.
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