Development and Validation of Yoga Protocol for Patients with Depression

BACKGROUND: Scientific evidence suggests that yoga is beneficial for treating mental health disorders. To the best of our knowledge, minimal studies have been done on the development of a yoga module for the specific clinical aspects of depression and there is no particular study on yoga protocol development for mild depression and moderate depression. PURPOSE: The primary aim of this study is to develop specific yoga protocol modules for treating patients affected with mild and moderate depression. METHODS: Yoga protocols for treating mild and moderate depression were developed using classical yoga texts, previous literature, and with the help of yoga experts. 26 practices for mild depression and 35 practices for moderate depression were identified, each of which was scored as (a) not essential, (b) useful but not essential, and (c) essential, and content validity ratio (CVR) determined using Lawshe’s formula for the validation. RESULTS: Expert’s opinion revealed that 13 out of 28 practices and 12 out of 35 practices showed significant CVR (>0.60) for mild and moderate depression. CONCLUSIONS: The yoga practices developed based on experts’ opinion is the first step toward the development of a validated protocol for mild and moderate depression. This will be assessed for its effectiveness through a randomized controlled study to confirm the module’s efficiency.