| The purpose of the descriptive correlational research study was to determine the relationship between intrinsic spirituality and spiritual beliefs, practices, and coping strategies of Canadian veterans with PTSD and non-PTSD before, during, and approximately 12 months after redeployment to Canada from combat in Afghanistan. Study participants were 59 veterans: 29 diagnosed with PTSD and 30 without PTSD. A 20-question survey with both closed-ended and open-ended items was used to collect data. Four null hypotheses tested differences by PTSD diagnosis. Each hypothesis encapsulated several criterion variables requiring individual tests. For hypothesis one, two of the three criterion variables were significant and one was not. For hypothesis two, all the three criterion variables were significant. For hypothesis three, four of the six criterion variables (meditation, religious prayers, reading religious text, and church attendance) were significant during deployment and two were not. For hypothesis four, one of the six criterion variables was significant while five were not. The overall analysis of the quantitative and the qualitative data resulted in four major overarching themes: (a) positive correlation between multiple deployments and PTSD symptomatology, (b) positive correlation between spiritual hypersensitivity before deployment and PTSD symptomatology, (c) trauma's linkage with spirituality (the study data suggested a significant elevation of intrinsic spiritual practices during the deployment compared to before and after the deployment), and (d) positive correlation between PTSD diagnosis and the repression of combat memories. |
