Increasing Veterans' Social Engagement and Connectedness

The UCLA Loneliness Scale Short Form is a 6-item, self-reported measure, rated on a 4-point Likert Scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 4 (often). Items are summed for a total score ranging from 6 (minimum) to 24 (maximum). There is no subscale. The scale has demonstrated internal consistency. Higher scores indicate greater loneliness. The Cronbach coefficient alpha for this sample was 0.90.

General Anxiety Disorder-7, a validated self-reported measure of anxiety. It has 7 items rated on a 4-point Likert scale, 0=not at all to 3= nearly every day. The scale has a total summed score of 0 (minimum) to 21 (maximum). It has shown reliability, internal consistency ( = 0.89), and good sensitivity. A meaningful change is indicated by 5 or more points. A total score of 1-4 indicates minimal symptoms, 5-9 mild symptoms, 10-14 moderate symptoms, and 12-21 severe symptoms.

The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 is a self-administered instrument used for screening, diagnosing, and monitoring the severity of depression. It has 9 items rated on a 4-point Likert Scale, ranging from 0=not at all to 3= nearly every day. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score is obtained by adding score for each item, for a total points ranging from 0 (minimum) to 27 (maximum). Total scores of 5, 10, 15, and 20 represent cutpoints for mild, moderate, moderately severe, and severe depression respectively. The internal reliability of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 was excellent, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.89.

Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support scale is self-administered. It has 12-items, measured on a 7-point a Likert scale (1=very strongly disagree) to 7=(very strongly agree). Total scale score is the sum across all 12 items. It can also be calculated as a mean score (divided by 12). Summed total score ranges from 12 (minimum) to 84 (maximum). The scale has high internal consistency ( alpha = .88). There is no established population norms on the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. There are 3 subscales. There are 3 subscales, with 4 item each. Their scores are the sum of the items divided by 4. Significant Other subscale (items 1, 2, 5, 10), Family subscale (3, 4, 8, 11), and Friends subscale (6, 7, 9, 12).

The Social Connectedness Scale is a widely used 8-item measure that assesses aspects of belongingness, affiliation, and companionship. It is rated on a 6-point Likert scale, 1=strongly disagree to 6=strongly agree. The items are then summed for a total score, ranging from 8 (minimum) to 36 (maximum). A high score indicates more connectedness to others or reflects a greater sense of social connectedness. Internal reliability estimates for the 2 scales were .91 and .82, respectively.

"The Columbia Protocol, also known as the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale, supports suicide risk assessment through a series of simple, plain-language questions that anyone can ask. The answers help users identify whether someone is at risk for suicide, assess the severity and immediacy of that risk, and gauge the level of support that the person needs. The Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale Screener evidenced excellent internal consistency (ordinal alpha = .95). Users of the tool ask people:

Whether and when they have thought about suicide (ideation) What actions they have taken - and when - to prepare for suicide Whether and when they attempted suicide or began a suicide attempt that was either interrupted by another person or stopped of their own volition"

The Veterans RAND 12 Item Health Survey is a brief, generic, multi-use, self-administered health survey comprised of 12 items. The instrument is primarily used to measure health related quality of life, to estimate disease burden and to evaluate disease-specific benchmarks with other populations. The 12 items in the questionnaire correspond to eight principal physical and mental health domains including general health perceptions; physical functioning; role limitations due to physical and emotional problems; bodily pain; energy-fatigue, social functioning and mental health. Its Internal consistency is high (s = .87 to .96).

The Life Engagement Test is a 6-item survey that measures the extent to which a person engages in activities that are valued (alpha = .80)

The PCL-5 is a widely used, 20-item self-report questionnaire used to screen for and diagnose probable PTSD. It evaluates the presence and severity of PTSD symptoms over the past month. The scale has strong internal consistency α =.94, test-retest reliability, convergent and discriminant validity. Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (extremely). All items are summed to create a total score that ranges from 0 to 80. Higher scores reflect a greater degree of distress or severity of PTSD symptoms. The recommended optimal cut-off score of >33 will be used to indicate probable PTSD.

The LEC-5 is a self-report tool designed to assess exposure to potentially traumatic events in adults, such as physical assault, sexual assault, combat, or life-threatening illness. Respondents indicate whether each event: happened to them personally, was witnessed, learned about in a close family member or friend, occurred as part of their job, or does not apply. The LEC-5 does not produce a formal score and is used in combination with the PCL-5 to evaluate PTSD symptoms.