Innovative Screening Tool Enhances Support for Military Veterans During Transition to Civilian Life

Transitioning from military service to civilian life presents significant challenges for today’s veterans, particularly those from the post-9/11 generation. As these veterans are increasingly diverse and face higher rates of trauma, mental health issues, underemployment, and service-related disabilities, a team of researchers at Pennsylvania State University has developed a new online assessment tool designed to better identify individual risks and tailor support services accordingly.

The tool, known as the Veteran Transition Screener (VTS), is a free resource created by the Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness. It aims to assist veteran-serving organizations in providing personalized, evidence-informed interventions that can improve transition outcomes. The VTS was supported by the May and Stanley Smith Foundation and is built on insights from extensive research, including data from the Veterans Metrics Initiative (TVMI), which tracked nearly 10,000 post-9/11 veterans over more than six years.

The VTS does more than just measure risks; it interprets them through the lens of actual real-world outcomes. By integrating predictive models derived from TVMI data, the screener can align a veteran's demographic details, deployment history, trauma exposure, and other personal factors with proven risk factors linked to poor transition outcomes. These include variables such as pay grade, gender, race or ethnicity, discharge type, and service-connected disabilities, as well as adverse childhood experiences, moral injury, and combat exposure.

Results from the VTS generate a personalized report for providers, offering research-based recommendations for targeted interventions or referrals. This could include assistance with resume preparation, transferring military credits, connecting veterans with peer networks, or mental health support. The tool is designed to be user-friendly, taking less than 20 minutes to complete, with core sections on demographics and experiences, while allowing providers to customize additional sections relevant to each veteran’s circumstances.

A pilot study conducted in 2022 with veteran organizations like Zero8Hundred and Hire Heroes U.S. demonstrated the tool's practicality and usefulness. Among the 32 veterans surveyed, findings revealed that while about 65% adjusted smoothly to civilian life, many faced challenges related to employment, mental health, and social isolation. Notably, 72% had combat deployments, 66% reported symptoms of traumatic brain injury or moral injury, and nearly 60% experienced adverse childhood events.

Feedback from pilot participants highlighted the VTS’s ease of use, the value of personalized reports, and low participant burden. The tool also helps identify at-risk subpopulations, such as female veterans with combat exposure and adverse childhood experiences—who are up to eight times more likely to report suicidality—and veterans of color or lower pay grades, who may require intensified support.

Though primarily validated for post-9/11 veterans within a few years of leaving active duty, researchers are working to expand its applicability to other veteran groups through larger studies. As Dr. Daniel F. Perkins emphasized, the VTS represents a foundation for a more adaptive, individualized veteran support system—one that can better meet the unique needs of each veteran on their transition journey.