Transparent Assessment: Discovering Authentic Meanings Made by Combat Veterans

To inform treatment innovation and assessment toward relevance to combat veterans, this mixed-methods intuitive inquiry applied art-based methods to thematic analysis with an emphasis on making the civilian researcher's interpretation transparent. The study explored changes in moral injury and complicated grief that corresponded with statistically significant improvement in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Eight male combat veterans voluntarily participated in a continuous five-day residential arts-based intervention (The Warrior's Journey). Each participant created 11 pieces of art and told a culminating story. Pre/post Posttraumatic Stress Checklist (PCL-M) Likert scales corresponded closely with narrative themes indicative of the identity domain of meaning reconstruction and posttraumatic growth. It was shown that meaning making and researcher bias can be assessed using art-based research methods. The results offer direction for increasing the relevance of treatment and assessment to address the issues of combat veterans.