Vulnerability to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among War Veterans - Research Paper Example

Comparing Vulnerability to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among War Veterans and the General Population and Gender Differences in Developing the Disorder Name Institution Data Analysis Plan Background This research paper evaluates the difference in prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at two levels: (1) between veterans and members of the general public; and (2) between male and female veterans. It also investigates whether greater experience (in terms of length of time spent in the war zones) raises the likelihood of developing PTSD. A review of the literature surrounding the prevalence of PTSD reveals that military personnel are indeed more likely to develop the condition, while women have a higher prevalence than men. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (2014) noted that events that lead to PTSD are more prevalent among military personnel than the general public. The same document reveals that among the general public, men are more likely (60%) to come across traumatic experiences that may trigger PTSD than do females (50%). However, women are more likely to develop the condition despite their lower rate of exposure, with a likelihood of 10% compared to men’s 4% (Gradus, 2014). At the same time, research has established that veterans who took part in different operations have varying rates of PTSD prevalence. This could be the result of varying intensities of the wars, and differing levels of exposure to other traumatic experiences. The Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans have a prevalence of between 11% and 20%; Gulf War (Desert Storm) veterans have a 12% prevalence; and 30% of Vietnam War veterans have endured PTSD in their lifetime. Taking a look at the gender dimension in prevalence of PTSD among military personnel reveals that a higher percentage of women (55%) are exposed to sexual harassment than men (38%) (U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, 2014; Haskell et al, 2010). Needless to say, these experiences elevate female veterans’ risk of developing PTSD. With this fact in mind, it is accurate to adjudge that female veterans are more prone to PTSD than are male veterans. It is these assertions on higher prevalence of PTSD among veterans and among females in society (both in the general public and the veteran community) that this research seeks to investigate. None of the literature material consulted appears to point at the implications of longer or shorter exposure on the prevalence of PTSD among veterans. The researcher delves into this issue by seeking to establish whether those who have been in the battlefield for longer periods are equally likely to suffer PTSD as a result of accumulated traumatic experiences. Research Questions and Hypotheses As indicated, this research aims to investigate whether there exists significant differences in PTSD prevalence among (1) veterans and the general population, and (2) between male and female veterans; and whether longer exposure to traumatic experiences in the war zones raises the likelihood of developing PTSD. Clearly, the focus will be on the veterans. In light of the above literature, it is fair to assume that veterans have higher prevalence of PTSD than the general population. Similarly, the assumption that female veterans have higher prevalence of the condition that their male counterparts appears well grounded in the available literature. In investigating these aspects, the current research asks: 1) Do veterans have a higher PTSD prevalence than the general population? 2) Is PTSD prevalence higher among female veterans than in male veterans? 3) Do veterans who spent longer periods in the battle zones have higher likelihood of developing PTSD? Following these research questions are the null hypotheses: H1: The prevalence (percentage) of veterans with PTSD is not significantly different from that of the general population suffering from the condition. H2: The prevalence of PTSD among female veterans is not statistically different from that of male veterans. H3: Prevalence of PTSD is not affected by the length of stay in a war zone. Methods Participants and procedure. The participants will comprise two groups; one for veterans and another from the ordinary population. The aim will be to investigate whether veterans indeed have significantly higher prevalence of PTSD than the general population. The researcher will liaise with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to get contact information on a group of veterans living to his neighborhood. To earn their trust, details of the ongoing research will be disclosed to the authorities, including the scope of the research, its value to society and research, and its contribution both to literature and the veterans’ affairs. Confidentiality will be discussed and the consent form presented by the university presented. Once access to this information is granted, the researcher will contact the veterans via phone and email informing them of the existence of this research, his background, the need for the research, value, scope, and confidentiality issues. Furthermore, the researcher will provide details pertaining to the use of questionnaires, including the assurance to destroy the forms once information is coded into suitable software. The veterans will be informed that their history with PTSD is needed for the research, and that those who do not know their statuses are welcome to undertake a test for the condition with the researcher. The researcher does not anticipate much difficulty in accessing members of the general public. An initial sample of 100 will be contacted for subsequent recruitment. Those who already took tests for the condition in the last one month will only require to disclose details of their tests, stating only whether they were diagnosed with PTSD or not. Those who have a history with the condition will be admitted as ‘having PTSD’. The rest will be tested for the condition using the guideline provided by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (2015). Forms asking similar questions will also be provided to the veterans who are unaware of their PTSD statuses at the time of recruitment. Data collection. The data on those who already have a history with PTSD and those who underwent PTSD screening tests within a month’s time to the moment of recruitment will be entered as provided: those who have the condition as per these guidelines will be indicated as ‘having PTSD’ while those who have negative results will be indicated as ‘not having PTSD’. Similar classification will be undertaken when the tests for those who do not have the condition are returned to the researcher. It is important that the researcher is able to determine the proportions of each population that has PTSD. This underscores why the primary focus will be ascertaining participants’ PTSD statuses. Besides the PTSD statuses, the researcher will also seek information pertaining to participants’ gender and lengths of stay in war zones for the veterans. These details will be filled in a short questionnaire sent/ given to participants. Questionnaires are a powerful tool for capturing specific details that the researcher does not need to collect in a live interview with a respondent (Harris & Brown, 2010). It has been selected for this research because the researcher anticipates a situation where it will not be necessary to have interviews with most participants. Data analysis. The data will be prepared as follows: The number of years spent in the battle zones will be rounded off to the nearest full year and the figure entered into a spreadsheet application as is. Information on gender will be coded such that the figure one (1) represents male and two (2) represents female. Information on whether a participant is a veteran will be coded such that members of the general public will be assigned the figure 1 and the veterans will be assigned the figure 2. Similarly, participants who have had or are having PTSD (those indicated as ‘having PTSD’) will be assigned the representative figure 1 while those who do not/ have never had the condition will be assigned the figure 2. Notably, these figures do not present any express hierarchy of ordering, and are therefore nominal variables to help in identification and easy interpretation by the software. During the data analysis, the Statistics Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) will be used. This software is especially effective when the above described coding criteria are in use. Descriptive statistics and frequency distributions will be generated to shed light on: the percentages of each group (male versus female veterans and veterans versus non-veterans) who have had PTSD at some point in their lives. Details on the number of males to females and veterans to non-veterans will also be disclosed at this point. Finally, the descriptive section will provide insight into the average time-length spent by veterans in the battle zones. The proportions of the veterans to non-veterans with PTSD will be compared and the resultant values assessed for significance (of difference in proportions). The p-value of the test statistic (difference in proportions for the two populations) will be compared with the p-value (level of significance at which the test is undertaken: 0.05 = 5% in the present study) preset to rule for or against the null hypothesis (Mendes & Akkartal, 2008; Tanbakuchi, 2009). The difference will be considered to be statistically significant if the test value has a p-value less than 0.05 – otherwise the difference between the prevalence of PTSD among veterans and non-veterans will be deemed to be equal. The difference in the proportion of male and female veterans with PTSD (using only the data for the veterans) will be assessed using a similar approach and a conclusion on whether female veterans are more likely to develop the condition made based on the significance of the test statistic. The last test will be assessing whether the time spent in the battle zones affects the likelihood of developing PTSD. Again, only the veterans’ group will be assessed in this respect. The PTSD status will be used as the dependent variable, implying that the response will be a binary variable. The independent variable will be the number of years spent in battle zones. Binary logistic regression will be used to assess whether the time-length is a significant factor for prevalence of PTSD, and if so, how good it fits the data. The predictor will then be used to estimate how much a unit length of stay (year or month) affects one’s odds of developing PTSD. References Anxiety and Depression Association of America (2015). Screening for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Retrieved from http://www.adaa.org/screening-posttraumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd. Gradus, J. L. (2014). Epidemiology of PTSD. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/PTSD-overview/epidemiological-facts-ptsd.asp. Harris, L. R. & Brown, G. T. L. (2010). Mixing interview and questionnaire methods: Practical problems in aligning data. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation. 15(1): 1-19. Haskell, S. G., Gordon, K. S., Mattocks, K., Duggal, M., Erdos, J., Justice, A. & Brandt, C. A. (2010). Gender differences in rates of depression, PTSD, pain, obesity, and military sexual trauma among Connecticut war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Journal of Women’s Health. 19(2): 267-271. Mendes, M. & Akkartal, E. (2008). Test power in comparison difference between two independent proportions. Journal of Applied Quantitative Methods. 3(4): 331-338. Tanbakuchi, A. (2009). Introductory statistics lectures: Testing a claim about two proportions. The University of Arizona. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2014). How common is PSTD? Retrieved from http://www.ptsd.va.gov/PTSD/public/PTSD-overview/basics/how-common-is-ptsd.asp. Read More