Assessing Student Veterans’ Academic Outcomes and Well-Being: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Higher education provides a pathway for military veterans to transition to an engaged civilian life. Veterans can be model students because of their diverse experiences, resilience, and discipline. Yet some veterans are simultaneously “at-risk”; most are non-traditional students and more likely than the general population to face mental/physical health issues. We propose well-being might protect student veterans from academic difficulties, ensuring positive outcomes. But few studies have investigated the relationship between student veterans’ well-being and academic outcomes. To guide much-needed research, we mapped how well-being and academic outcomes have been assessed in the student veteran literature. We reviewed 96 studies that quantitatively measured student veterans’ well-being or academic outcomes (databases: PsycINFO, ERIC, Proquest Dissertation/Theses, PubMed). Well-being was conceptualized in several ways, demonstrating lack of uniformity. Academic outcomes predominantly focused on performance, though non-performance-based measures (e.g., adjustment) were common. We outline existing research limitations and provide future research measurement recommendations.

Staying the Course: Strategies for Australian Student Veterans in Transition

“…It is not known, however, how many student veterans fall outside this scope. Furthermore, most Australian universities do not know who their student veterans are and do not collect data on their demographics, wellbeing, study patterns, performance, or completion rates (Moeck et al, 2022). Accurate data are essential to inform policy and practice.…”