Tools to measure well-being

The domains of well-being developed by Veterans Affairs Canada are:

• Cultural and social environment
• Employment and meaningful activity
• Finance
• Health
• Housing and physical environment
• Life skills and preparedness
• Social integration

The seven domains represent key areas of life to be considered in supporting Veterans with their transition from service. Having success in all domains is important for overall Veteran well-being and a good quality of life.

Reliable ways to measure Veteran well-being enable us to: 

• Assess Veterans’ needs during their transitions to post-service life
• Develop programs and services to meet their needs 
• Evaluate the effectiveness of such programs and services in terms of Veteran outcomes

Teams of researchers used a systematic review process to look for studies that report on the use or development of measurement tools related to the seven domains of well-being. For more detail about the process, please see Veterans’ Quality of Life: The seven domains of well-being, found in the related resources section.

The information in the directory is based on results from these systematic reviews and may not reflect all available information about each tool. For example, the directory may not capture all the different adaptations or versions of a tool.

There are many tools that show promise for measuring Veteran well-being in each of the domains of well-being. However only a small number of tools have been validated for the Veteran population (i.e. where experts have checked and confirmed that the tool is effective and reliable for use with Veterans). Additionally, some tools may be too long and/or not feasible to administer among Veterans, or only assess a subset of a domain. 

More research is needed to identify, adapt or develop tools that:

• are applicable to the Veteran population
• are validated for the Veteran population
• comprehensively assess well-being in a particular domain

Tools that have been used with Veterans and ranked by Veterans as clear and applicable as part of this project could be used or combined to assess well-being at the time of transition from service (baseline assessment). Additionally, such tools could be used to monitor well-being over time and evaluate the impact of interventions and/or policies that aim to meet Veteran needs.

Researchers funded by the Chronic Pain Centre of Excellence for Canadian Veterans (CPCoE) led the collection of tools related to: employment and meaningful activity, finance; health; life skills and preparedness, social integration, and cultural and social environment. 

The CPCoE also provided funding to the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families to lead the work on the domain of housing and physical environment.

This column shows tools that are publicly accessible marked with an open lock. A closed lock means the tool is not publicly accessible. 

Publicly accessible means that the tool can be accessed and downloaded for free, without contacting anyone, and it is not behind a paywall. For example, the tool may be included as supplementary material to an open-access research article. 

However, publicly accessible does not necessarily mean that the tool is free to use without restriction.  

Where possible, we have provided some information about use permissions in the Notes column. These are as accurate and up-to-date as possible as of the publishing of this directory. However, it is the user’s responsibility to identify and ensure compliance with any rules or restrictions related to the use of a particular tool prior to using it.

Even if a tool is not publicly accessible, you may find useful information by following the link. Some research publications may contain tables, figures or other content which provide details on the tools. Some research publications behind paywalls may have the tool available for download.

This column identifies tools that have already been used with Veterans. They are marked by a ribbon with a checkmark.

Provides the link to the tool itself, if available, or a link to a research publication about the tool. 

Indicates the domain of well-being with which each tool is associated: cultural and social environment, employment and meaningful activity, finance, health, housing and physical environment, life skills and preparedness, or social integration.

Provides contextual information, including details about use permission, where possible. Information about use permission is as accurate and up-to-date as possible as of the publishing of this directory. However, it is the user’s responsibility to identify and ensure compliance with any rules or restrictions related to the use of a particular tool.

All tools are available in English. Some tools are also available in additional languages, including French. The directory includes information on languages gathered through the systematic review process. As such, the information may be incomplete.

Some of the tools were reviewed by a group of Veterans who evaluated them for clarity. Clarity refers to how easy it was for Veteran evaluators to understand the tool. Evaluators rated tools on a five-point scale (very clear, somewhat clear, uncertain, somewhat unclear and very unclear) and were asked for comments to justify their assessments.

Some of the tools were reviewed by a group of Veterans who evaluated them for applicability. Applicability refers to the degree to which Veteran evaluators felt the tool was relevant, comprehensive and appropriate for Veterans. Evaluators rated tools on a five-point scale (very applicable, somewhat applicable, unsure, somewhat inapplicable and very inapplicable) and were asked for comments to justify their assessments.

Indicates whether a tool has one of five mode of administration labels: audit/observer-rated, interviewer-administered, mixed, not specified, self-report.

Keywords may reflect the content of the tool or the populations and settings in which the tool has been used. 

The keywords reflect information gathered about the tool as part of the systematic review process. As such, the information may be incomplete. For example, some tools, like the WHOQOL, have been used with many populations and settings and not all of them may be captured in the list of keywords.