Validity and Reliability of the Empowered Veteran Index-Short Form (EVI-SF)

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Veteran empowerment may include connection, community impact, and personal growth. At least one valid and reliable tool has been developed to measure the aforementioned framework: the empowered veteran index (EVI). However, there is a need for a shorter measure to prevent survey fatigue.

Materials and methods

We recruited military veteran members of a nonprofit (n = 316), The Mission Continues, for participation in this cross-sectional online survey study. Participants completed the 35-item EVI. A short form of the EVI (EVI-SF) was developed through bifactor confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Results

The 10-item EVI-SF model demonstrated satisfactory performance (χ² p = 0.68, SRMR = 0.02, RMSEA = 0.01, CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.99). All factor loadings in this model were ≥ 0.30, providing evidence for the validity of the interval structure. Internal consistency reliability was good for all three subscales (omegas >0.7).

Discussion

Analysis of the EVI-SF showed that the instrument was valid and reliable. The EVI-SF contains 10 items with seven-point Likert scale response options. Use of the instrument may provide for the opportunity to measure empowerment of military veterans.

Conclusion

This study provides preliminary psychometric validation of the EVI-SF.

KEYWORDS:

• Veteran
• empowerment
• connectedness
• personal growth
• community impact

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data may be made available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.