Adapting and validating the Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory-2 for use in Ukraine

Direct exposure to combat is a leading cause of poor mental and physical health in military veterans. Recent findings suggest that a complex set of interconnected social, economic, and cultural factors further increase the risk of postdeployment symptomatology. The Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory-Second Edition (DRRI-2) is a 17-scale questionnaire that measures psychosocial risk and resilience factors among military personnel. The DRRI-2 has been validated for use in the United States, French-speaking Canada, and Israel. This study aimed to adapt and psychometrically validate the DRRI-2 for use in Ukraine. A sample of 373 military personnel completed a translated version of the DRRI-2 along with existing validated Ukrainian-language measures of posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and global functioning. A focus group of military personnel established face validity of the Ukrainian version of the DRRI-2. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for the 17 scales ranged from .57 to .96, with an average of .83. Concurrent validity was established by comparing the measure to widely used validated measures. Risk factor scales correlated positively with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depressive, and anxiety symptom severity, rs = .10-.58, and negatively with physical and mental health, rs = -.35-.05, whereas resilience factor scales correlated negatively with symptom severity, rs = -.42--.22, and positively with functioning, rs = -.01-.38. These findings suggest that the Ukrainian DRRI-2 demonstrates acceptable-to-strong reliability and validity and can be used to assess deployment-related risk and resilience factors among Ukrainian military personnel.