Development of a Translational Tool to Study Yoga Therapy
Condition: Health Behavior
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      This study comprises 4 phases designed to systematically develop and test a reliable, valid
      and useful quantitative measure of the components and dimensions of yoga; each phase builds
      on the previous phase. Phase I aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of the relevant
      aspects of yoga therapy and develop a large pool of potential questionnaire items by
      conducting a thorough literature review and focus groups with yoga teachers and students.
      These data will be analyzed using rigorous qualitative methods to identify key conceptual
      dimensions associated with yoga interventions. Phase II will develop a prototypic
      questionnaire to assess yoga therapy by refining and honing information from Phase I and
      conducting cognitive interviews to further develop this instrument. Phase III will pilot test
      the measure in a field observation of yoga students and use factor analysis and item response
      theory to select the best items per dimension and to reduce the number of items in the
      measure. Phase IV will collect data on the new instrument and test the psychometric
      properties of the questionnaire (i.e., reliability and validity using data collected in
      Phases III and IV).
    

Detailed description: 
      The use of yoga for general health and wellness and for dealing with particular health
      conditions is increasing in the United States According to the National Health Interview
      Survey (NHIS) Alternative Medicine Supplement, the use of yoga increased significantly from
      2002 to 2007 (NCCAM/Barnes, Bloom & Nahin, 2008), to 6.1% of the US population. In people
      dealing with health issues, the percent using yoga may be much higher (Birdee et al., 2008;
      NCCAM/Barnes et al., 2008). For example, in recent years, yoga has become a core
      complementary approach sought out by cancer patients and survivors of all cultural
      backgrounds in dramatically larger numbers (Mackenzie, Carlson, Munoz, & Speca, 2007).

      Yoga interventions are being introduced for a variety of health conditions. Research
      evaluating these interventions remains inconclusive (NCCAM/Barnes et al., 2008) but
      preliminary results are promising. Many studies have reported evidence of superiority of yoga
      interventions relative to controls, although it is often difficult to determine the adequacy
      of the control condition. Reviewing the studies that compared yoga specifically to a physical
      exercise control condition, Ross and Thomas (2010) reported favorable findings for the impact
      of yoga on specific health conditions including cardiovascular disease (e.g., Raub, 2002),
      metabolic syndrome (e.g., Innes et al., 2005), diabetes (e.g., Upadhyay et al., 2008), cancer
      (see Bower et al., 2005) and anxiety (see Kirkwood et al., 2005). Similarly, a review of yoga
      interventions for chronic lifestyle-related diseases (Tekur et al., 2008) noted that yoga has
      been shown to be effective for treating osteoarthritis (Garfinkel et al., 1998), rheumatoid
      arthritis (Haslock et al., 1994), essential hypertension (Murugesan et al., 2000), bronchial
      asthma (Nagarathna et al., 1985; Vedanthan et al., 1998), irritable bowel syndrome (Taneja et
      al., 2004), diabetes (Singh et al., 2001), coronary artery disease (Manchanda et al., 2000),
      and depression (Woolery et al., 2004). Yoga has also been used in patients with chronic lower
      back pain (CLBP). Two randomized control trials on yoga for CLBP using Viniyoga (Sherman et
      al., 2005) and Iyengar yoga therapy (Williams et al., 2009) showed reduction in pain and
      functional disability relative to control groups. These studies contribute to the
      accumulating body of research evidence attesting to the positive health benefits of yoga. The
      recent NCCAM report indicates that, while promising, much more research evaluating these
      interventions is needed (NCCAM/Barnes et al., 2008). Currently, the content and substance of
      yoga remains a "black box" in that no studies have identified the effective ingredients of
      yoga. The proposed study will develop a tool to identify and quantify the components of yoga.
      The tool will thus allow researchers to link specific components of yoga to specific health
      outcomes such as pain, depression, functioning, etc.
    

Intervention name(s): Yoga Research Tool
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): We will be collecting data from a literature search, focus groups, cognitive interviews, and an online survey to build a measure for yoga researchers.
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Yoga teachers, students, and researchers.
      
Keywords: Yoga