Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory-2 (DRRI-2): An Updated Tool for Assessing Psychosocial Risk and Resilience Factors Among Service Members and Veterans

The Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory (DRRI) is a widely used instrument for assessing deployment-related risk and resilience factors among war veterans. A revision of this instrument was recently undertaken to enhance the DRRI's applicability across a variety of deployment-related circumstances and military subgroups. The resulting suite of 17 distinct DRRI-2 scales is the product of a multiyear psychometric endeavor that involved (a) focus groups with Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans to inform an assessment of the content validity of original DRRI measures, (b) examination of item and scale characteristics of revised scales in a national sample of 469 OEF/OIF veterans, and (c) administration of refined scales to a second national sample of 1,046 OEF/OIF veterans to confirm their psychometric quality. Both classical test theory and item response theory analytical strategies were applied to inform major revisions, which included updating the coverage of warfare-related stressors, expanding the assessment of family factors throughout the deployment cycle, and shortening scales. Finalized DRRI-2 scales demonstrated strong internal consistency reliability and criterion-related validity. The DRRI-2 can be applied to examine the role that psychosocial factors play in postdeployment health and inform interventions aimed at reducing risk and enhancing resilience among war veterans.