An Examination of Hope, Symptom Severity, and Functioning Among Combat Veterans After Participation in an Intensive Outpatient Program for PTSD

Impairment in psychosocial functioning complicates readjustment to civilian life for many combat veterans with PTSD and is related to poorer quality of life. Hope theory posits that both a sense of agency and the ability to identify pathways toward achieving a goal underlie the process of behavior change. We developed an intensive outpatient program (the HOME program) in order to help combat veterans move toward values-driven activities and improve psychosocial functioning. We hypothesized that increased hope regarding veterans’ ability to manage and recover from PTSD symptoms may facilitate improvements in functioning apart from symptom reduction. The present study examines changes in hope, psychosocial functioning, and PTSD symptoms in a sample of HOME participants (N = 33). Consistent with our hypothesis, results indicated that greater levels of hope were associated with improvements in adaptive behaviors (related to functioning) above and beyond symptom change. These preliminary findings suggest that therapeutic interventions that increase veterans’ perceptions of hope regarding recovery from PTSD may enhance psychosocial functioning. Additional research with larger samples is needed to further examine these relationships.