Empowered Veteran Index (EVI)

Abstract

The Empowered Veteran Index (EVI), developed by McDaniel et al. in 2023, is a specialized assessment tool designed to measure successful psychosocial reintegration outcomes among military veterans. Scale development was initiated through qualitative methods, specifically semi-structured interviews concerning veteran reintegration conducted with members of The Mission Continues (TMC).

Based on the rich qualitative data, two primary authors (JTM and DLA) constructed an initial draft instrument containing 60 Likert-type items. Following expert review and feedback, five additional items were included, focusing on the core constructs of personal growth, connectedness, and community impact. Validation procedures were executed using a sample of individuals who had served in the United States Armed Forces. The results derived from Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) confirmed that a three-factor model provided an adequate fit to the data. Items that cross-loaded onto unintended constructs or exhibited factor loadings below 0.40 were systematically removed, resulting in a final, robust 35-item scale. The scale demonstrated strong psychometric properties regarding both reliability and validity, although the authors recommend future research should focus on confirming the factor structure through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Keywords

Community Impact, Connectedness, Military Veterans, Personal Growth, Psychosocial Reintegration, Psychosocial Readjustment, Military Measures, Social Connectedness, Military-Civilian Transition

Authors

McDaniel, Justin T., Rosen, Gina, Albright, David L., York, Mary, Miller, Kyle, Pekios, Heather, Kundan, Shivam

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Purpose

The Empowered Veteran Index (EVI) was specifically developed to provide a quantitative measure of positive adjustment and empowerment among individuals transitioning from military service back into civilian life.

The primary objective of the EVI is to assess critical aspects of psychosocial reintegration that extend beyond simply minimizing pathology. It focuses on growth-oriented variables, specifically measuring the degree of personal growth, social connectedness, and meaningful community impact achieved by the veteran post-service.

Construct

The EVI measures the broad psychological construct of successful **Psychosocial Reintegration**. This construct is operationalized through three distinct, empirically validated sub-constructs:

1. Personal Growth: This factor encompasses the veteran’s engagement in self-improvement, setting and achieving personal goals, continuous skill acquisition, and proactive management of their health and well-being.

2. Connectedness: This factor evaluates the quality and quantity of the veteran’s social network, including relationships with relatives, veteran and non-veteran friends, coworkers, and involvement in community or online groups, emphasizing camaraderie and mutual reliance.

3. Community Impact: This factor assesses the veteran’s sense of civic responsibility and engagement, measuring active participation in community improvement, volunteering efforts, and feeling a sense of purpose by contributing to something larger than themselves.

Validity

The validation process provided initial evidence supporting the scale’s structure and utility. The successful identification of the three proposed factors (Personal Growth, Connectedness, and Community Impact) through factor analysis supported the conceptual framework of the EVI.

Evidence for convergent validity was established during the second round of the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Exploratory Factor Analysis. In this analysis, all items retained in the final 35-item measure exhibited factor loadings equal to or exceeding 0.40, confirming that the items were sufficiently correlated with the specific factor they were designed to measure.

Reliability

The EVI demonstrated excellent reliability across multiple metrics, indicating high consistency and stability in measurement.

• Internal Consistency: The scale achieved a high degree of internal consistency, with the overall 35-item scale reporting a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.96. The reliability coefficients for the individual subscales were also robust, ranging from 0.90 to 0.95.

• Inter-Rater Reliability (IRR): The instrument also exhibited strong agreement among independent observers, reporting an inter-rater reliability (IRR) of 85%.

Factor Analysis

The structural integrity of the EVI was determined through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). The initial pool of 65 items was reduced to the final 35 items by eliminating those that failed to load cleanly onto a single construct (cross-loaded) or had weak factor loadings (below 0.40).

The OLS EFA confirmed the presence of the three hypothesized factors (Personal Growth, Connectedness, and Community Impact). The analysis reported significant eigenvalues supporting this structure: 8.11 for Personal Growth (PG), 5.50 for Connectedness (C), and 4.92 for Community Impact (CI). Furthermore, the model fit indices supported the three-factor solution, with a Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) of 0.03 and a Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) of 0.06, both indicating acceptable model fit.

Instrument

Test Type: Original; Inventory/Questionnaire

Format: The EVI is a 35-item measure utilizing a 7-point Likert scale. Responses range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The total score is interpreted as an index of “veteran empowerment,” with higher scores indicating more successful reintegration.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years and older)

Population Details: Location: United States; Respondents: Military Veterans

Test Methodology: Test Validity; Convergent Validity; Test Reliability; Internal Consistency; Interrater Reliability; Factor Analysis; Exploratory Factor Analysis

Keywords

Community Impact, Connectedness, Military Veterans, Personal Growth, Psychosocial Reintegration, Psychosocial Readjustment, Military Measures, Social Connectedness, Military-Civilian Transition

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Kyle Miller: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7675-3215

Affiliation Email addresses: Justin T. McDaniel: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: McDaniel, Justin T.: Southern Illinois University, School of Human Sciences, 475 Clocktower Drive, Carbondale, Illinois, United States, 62901, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The EVI may be used for **Research/Teaching** purposes. There is **No Fee** required for its use in non-commercial settings. The scale was originally published and validated in **2023**.

Reference’s

McDaniel, J. T., Rosen, G., Albright, D. L., York, M., Miller, K., Pekios, H., & Kundan, S. (2023). Validity and reliability of the Empowered Veteran Index among military veterans. Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion, 4(2), 167–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/26320770231167355

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Items of the Empowered Veteran Index (EVI)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

This is a 35-item measure. The test items are available in the appendix of the source publication (McDaniel et al., 2023) on pages 188-190.

Response scale for all questions:

Personal Growth

Connectedness

Community Impact

Note. Items marked with an asterisk were highlighted in the original document and dropped from the final instrument.