A novel approach for evaluating programs designed to serve military veterans: Using an adapted common components...

Area of Science:

• Program evaluation
• Veteran support services
• Public health

Background:

• Many Veteran support programs lack evidence of impact, hindering effective resource allocation.
• Current evaluation methods struggle to keep pace with the diverse range of available programs.
• There is a need for efficient methods to identify the most impactful programs for Veterans.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt the Common Components Analysis (CCA) for Veteran support programs lacking rigorous outcome data.
• To determine the feasibility of using online surveys to gather Veteran nominations of programs and their components.
• To lay the groundwork for future longitudinal research enabling stronger causal claims about program component effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• Examined cross-sectional pilot study data.
• Utilized an adapted Common Components Analysis (CCA) approach.
• Collected data via an online survey from Veterans on program nominations and components across five well-being domains.

Main Results:

• The pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of eliciting program nominations and components from Veterans through an online survey.
• Initial data collection across employment, education, legal/financial/housing, mental/physical health, and social/personal relationships domains was successful.
• The adapted CCA approach shows promise for evaluating Veteran support programs.

Conclusions:

• An adapted Common Components Analysis (CCA) is a feasible approach for evaluating Veteran support programs, especially when rigorous outcome data is limited.
• Online surveys can effectively gather essential data from Veterans regarding program nominations and components.
• This adapted CCA methodology, combined with longitudinal designs, can enhance the understanding of effective interventions for Veterans across multiple life domains.