Yoga therapy for military personnel and veterans: Qualitative perspectives of yoga students and instructors

Samantha Hurst; Meghan Maiya; Danielle Casteel; Andrew J Sarkin; Salvatore Libretto; A Rani Elwy; Crystal L Park; Erik J Groessl

doi:10.1016/j.ctim.2017.10.008

Yoga therapy for military personnel and veterans: Qualitative perspectives of yoga students and instructors

Complement Ther Med. 2018 Oct:40:222-229. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2017.10.008. Epub 2017 Nov 8.

Authors

Samantha Hurst¹, Meghan Maiya², Danielle Casteel², Andrew J Sarkin², Salvatore Libretto³, A Rani Elwy⁴, Crystal L Park⁵, Erik J Groessl⁶

Affiliations

¹ University of California San Diego, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, La Jolla, CA, United States.
² University of California San Diego, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, La Jolla, CA, United States; UCSD - Health Services Research Center, La Jolla, CA, United States.
³ Samueli Institute, Alexandria, VA, United States.
⁴ Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Health Law, Policy and Management, Boston, MA, United States; Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, United States.
⁵ University of Connecticut, Department of Psychological Sciences, Storrs, CT, United States.
⁶ University of California San Diego, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, La Jolla, CA, United States; UCSD - Health Services Research Center, La Jolla, CA, United States; VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, CA, United States. Electronic address: egroessl@ucsd.edu.

Abstract

Objective: Millions of military personnel and veterans live with chronic mental and physical health conditions that often do not respond well to pharmacological treatments. Serious side effects and lack of treatment response have led to widespread efforts to study and promote non-pharmacological and behavioral health treatments for many chronic health conditions. Yoga is an increasingly popular mind-body intervention that has growing research support for its efficacy and safety. Our objective was to explore the attitudes, perspectives, and preferences of military personnel and veterans toward yoga as a therapeutic modality, thus providing needed information for designing and promoting yoga interventions for this population.

Methods: Participants included 24 individuals with yoga experience and current or past military service and 12 instructors who have taught yoga for military personnel and/or veterans. A semi-structured set of questions guided interviews with each participant.

Results: Five themes emerged from the interviews: (1) mental health benefits experienced from yoga practice; (2) physical health benefits experienced from yoga practice; (3) important yoga elements and conditions that support effective practice; (4) facilitators for engaging military in yoga practice; and (5) challenges and barriers to yoga practice for military.

Conclusions: The study highlights consistent reports of mental and physical benefits of yoga practice, ongoing stigma resulting in the need for combatting and demystifying yoga and other complementary and integrative health (CIH) practices, the importance of designing interventions to address the unique mental health issues and perspectives of this population, and the importance of efforts by military leadership to bring CIH to military personnel and veterans. Rigorous research addressing these findings, along with further research on the efficacy and effectiveness of yoga interventions for treating various conditions are needed.

Keywords: Chronic pain; Mental health; Military personnel; Qualitative research; Yoga.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Chronic Pain / therapy
Female
Health Personnel / psychology
Humans
Male
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Military Personnel / psychology*
Patient Acceptance of Health Care / psychology*
Qualitative Research
Students
Veterans / psychology*
Yoga / psychology*
Young Adult

Grants and funding

R01 AT006466/AT/NCCIH NIH HHS/United States