Validation of a Self-Assessment Tool for Identifying Need for Assistance in Military to Civilian Transition

Abstract

A self-assessment tool was developed to encourage releasing service members to reflect on their preparedness for military to civilian transition and need for assistance. The aim of this paper was to examine its validity among recently released Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members using data from the Canadian Armed Forces Transition and Well-Being Survey (CAFTWS). The survey was administered in 2017 to a total of 1,414 CAF Veterans (former CAF members), representing a response rate of 75%. The validity of the self-assessment tool was confirmed, as shown by the significant correlations between each of its indicators and variables corresponding to six domains of well-being: employment or other meaningful activity, finances, health, life skills and preparedness, social integration, and housing/physical environment. The potential utility of the self-assessment tool for assessing military to civilian transition outcomes was also supported by its significant associations with difficult adjustment to civilian life in the manner expected. The current study provides further evidence for the validity of the self-assessment tool for identifying needs for assistance that Veterans may have during military to civilian transition. The tool holds promise for encouraging transitioning members and families to seek assistance and should be considered as a complement to active screening.

Keywords:

• Tool development
• tool validation
• construct validity
• Veterans
• domains of well-being
• Canadian Armed Forces
• service needs

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Scott Perrie and Brenda Belanger (formerly of Statistics Canada) for all of their help and support with the Canadian Armed Forces Transition and Well-being Survey. The authors would also like to thank all of the participants who took the time to complete the survey and share their perspective.

Notes

1 Prior to creating the indicator for Employment and Meaningful Activity, the items related to finding a good job, being enrolled in an educational institution, and being prepared for retirement were combined. Specifically, participants who responded no to any of these three items or no to one item and not applicable to the other two were assigned no; participants who responded somewhat to any of these three items or somewhat to one item and not applicable to the other two were assigned somewhat; participants who responded yes to any of these three items were assigned yes; and participants who responded not applicable to all three items were assigned not applicable.

2 This finding might have resulted from the restricted range of the indicator for housing/physical environment, as few Veterans who participated in the CAFTWS are likely to have experienced severe issues related to housing, such as homelessness, due to the sampling approach used in the survey.

3 This is due to 1) the fact that earlier versions of the items were included in the CAFTWS and 2) slight changes that were made by Statistics Canada following qualitative testing of the CAFTWS tool.