Development and Validation of a Tool to Assess Military Veterans' Status, Functioning, and Satisfaction with Key Aspects of their Lives.

Background: We developed and validated the Well-Being Inventory (WBI) to address the need for a tool that can provide a comprehensive assessment of key aspects of military veterans' lives. This multidimensional instrument assesses status, functioning, and satisfaction with regard to vocation, finances, health, and social relationships.

Methods: Two large multi-phase studies (Study 1 Ns = 301, 286; Study 2 Ns = 9,566, 7,342) were conducted to develop and validate this tool among military veterans.

Results: Confirmatory factor analyses supported the proposed factor structure, with separate factors observed for all scales except the health functioning scale, which was best represented as three factors rather than a single factor. Cronbach's alphas were satisfactory, with an average alpha of 0.86. Most WBI measures discriminated among individuals with and without mental health conditions and demonstrated expected declines among those with a new mental health condition.

Conclusions: This study provides initial evidence for the reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change of the WBI. This tool can be used to provide insight into areas in which military veterans would benefit from additional support and inform efforts to promote the well-being of this population. Given its broad focus, it may also prove useful with other civilian populations.