Development of a multidimensional military readiness assessment.
Riley C Sheehan, Michael Vernon
PMID 38572296WHAT IT FOUND
A new virtual reality test for injured soldiers measures physical and cognitive readiness together.
Four evaluators rated it highly relevant for return-to-duty decisions. It is not yet validated, so do not use it to make clinical judgments.
Key findings
01The REDOp2 assessment combines physical patrol tasks with cognitive challenges like symbol recall and rapid decision-making in a virtual environment.
02Four Physical Evaluation Board representatives rated the assessment's military relevance and potential to inform return-to-duty decisions with an average score of 6.4 out of 7.
03The assessment is not yet ready for clinical implementation because reliability, validity, and normative data are still being developed.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study did not test the assessment on patients to determine if it accurately predicts return-to-duty success. It only surveyed four experts on whether the test looks relevant. The assessment requires a specialized CAREN system, which is expensive and only available at a few large military hospitals. Reliability and validity have not been established. The authors explicitly state these are next steps. The sample for the stakeholder survey was extremely small (n=4), so their high ratings should be interpreted with caution.
Declared interests
The research was funded by the Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this assessment is ready for use in clinical practice or return-to-duty decisions. The high ratings from four experts only indicate the test looks relevant; it has not been proven to accurately predict whether a soldier can safely return to work.