Impact of a Yoga Intervention on Physical Activity, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation in Women with PTSD Symptoms.

BACKGROUND:Studies using yoga have demonstrated initial efficacy for treating symptoms across anxiety disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder. OBJECTIVE:Understanding how interventions influence participants' physical activity and what determinants affect continued physical activity behavior change is important because maintenance of the behavior may be critical to continued mental health gains and symptom reduction. METHODS:This study investigated change in physical activity and possible psychological mechanisms of physical activity behavior change, including self-efficacy and regulatory motivation, in a randomized controlled trial of yoga for women with post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (n=38). RESULTS:Growth curve modeling results showed no significant changes in physical activity or self-efficacy for either group, whereas external motivation decreased significantly in the yoga group but not in the control group. CONCLUSIONS:Investigators of future yoga interventions may want to focus on increasing self-efficacy and internal regulatory motivation, so that physical activity and resultant symptom relief can be maintained.