Validation of Modified DRRI Scales in a National Sample of OEF/OIF Veterans

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Anticipated Impacts on Veterans' Healthcare: Researchers and clinicians require measures that can be used to assess the experiences of veterans with confidence. The primary product of this project, an updated and validated suite of scales for assessing deployment risk and resilience factors that have demonstrated associations with postdeployment health, will provide such a tool. Results based on the administration of these scales can be used to plan and deliver more appropriate care for recently returned OEF/OIF veterans. Project Background: The Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory (DRRI) is a suite of scales for assessing key psychosocial risk and resilience factors experienced during deployment, as well as prior to and immediately following deployment. The DRRI was initially developed and validated on veterans of the Gulf War, and therefore, it is unclear whether this set of scales fully captures relevant experiences for other veteran cohorts. In recognition of the importance of further development of the DRRI, the DRRI was recently updated for broader applicability to other cohorts. Several new scales were developed to enhance the content coverage of the DRRI and a number of DRRI items were modified for enhanced face validity and broader applicability across veteran cohorts. Project Objectives: The primary objective of this project is to conduct a systematic empirical investigation of modified DRRI scales in a sample of OEF/OIF veterans. Project Methods: In Phase I, the original DRRI items and any items that have been modified or added will be administered to a nationally representative sample of 600 OEF/OIF veterans. The specific aims for this phase are to: (1) examine initial item and scale characteristics for modified DRRI scales with the goal of identifying the minimum number of items needed to provide adequate construct coverage for each scale, and (2) evaluate the psychometric quality of both newly developed and modified scales, vis a vis the original DRRI scales. In Phase II, finalized DRRI scales and health measures will be administered to a second sample of 400 OEF/OIF veterans. The specific aims for this phase of the study are to (1) document item and scale characteristics for the finalized DRRI scales (now named DRRI-2), and (2) examine the discriminant validity, criterion-related validity, and discriminative validity of finalized scales.