Improving Veterans’ Well-being

September 29, 2026

Takeaway: The Well-being Signs (WBS) brief measure of psychosocial wellbeing is currently accessible in VA's electronic health record and VA's Mental Health Assistant platform. Thus far, the WBS has been administered more than 200,000 times, and is being used at 134 VA facilities. There has been substantial growth in use since it was introduced to the field in 2022, with a 221% increase over the first quarter of 2026.

Background

In 2023, an Integrated Project Team was created to guide VA's measurement of Veteran wellbeing, including the extent to which they experience good health, vocational, financial, and social wellbeing. In 2025, VA Secretary Collins announced a "Veterans First" strategy that called for VA to put Veterans' wellbeing at the center of the VA enterprise. This strategy aligns with a growing body of evidence that Veterans reporting improved wellbeing experience better health and healthcare outcomes, including lower risk for poor longer-term mental health and suicidality.

All Veterans can access programs to support health and well-being. These services include peer-driven self-management education, complementary and integrative health and other well-being promotion approaches, health and wellness coaching, and a personalized approach to clinical care. VA Whole Health strives to support all Veterans' health and well-being.

Well-being Signs: A Brief Measure of Psychosocial Well-being

The Well-being Signs (WBS) three-item measure was developed for use in healthcare settings to promote discussion of how treatment plans can be designed or modified to improve Veterans' ability to "live their lives to the fullest"-a key goal of VA Whole Health care. VA's Whole Health approach is centered on the goal that VA healthcare teams will get to know every Veteran as a person before working with them to "develop a personalized health plan based on [their] values, needs, and goals."

Dawne Vogt, PhD, and colleagues designed the WBS to provide insight into VA patients' psychosocial wellbeing with regard to the most important roles or activities they do or wish to do in their daily lives, offering information that can be used to ensure that treatment plans are optimized to enhance their wellbeing. The WBS measure can be administered by a clinician or other team members (including non-clinicians), or it may be self-administered.

Implications

The Well-being Signs brief measure is accessible in VA's electronic health record and VA's Mental Health Assistant (MHA) platform. Thus far, the WBS has been administered more than 200,000 times and is being used at 134 VA facilities. There has been substantial growth in use since it was introduced to the field in 2022, with a 221% increase in use over the first quarter of 2026, and with the greatest adoption found in primary care and pain and rehabilitation clinics, in addition to Whole Health settings. Support for the dissemination of the WBS has been provided by the Office of Patient-Centered Care and Cultural Transformation (OPCC&CT) and their Field Implementation Team. This measure has also been adopted for use in national surveys of Veterans (i.e., Survey of Enrollees, SHEP) and in work conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Partners

VA's Office of Patient-Centered Care and Cultural Transformation (OPCC&CT) and VA's Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI).

Investigator

Dawne Vogt, PhD, is a core investigator with HSR's Center for Health Optimization & Implementation Research (CHOIR) and VA's National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (NCPTSD).

Citations

Vogt D, Borowski S, Hoffmire C, et al. Impact of Veterans' military-to-civilian transition experiences on their longer-term mental health.Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. January 20, 2026. Online ahead of print.

Vogt D, Borowski S, Etingen B, et al. Using well-being measurements to enhance clinical practice: Why and how to ask patients about their broader well-being. Medical Care. December 2024:62(12):537-575.

Vogt D, Kligler B, Darchuk K, et al. Measuring the well-being of the whole person in clinical care, health research, and population health evaluation : Findings and recommendations from the XVIII Veterans Health Administration State-of-the-Art Meeting. Medical Care. December 2024;62(12):S4-S12.

Vogt D, Borowski S, Kumar, SA, et al. Psychosocial well-being at the time of trauma exposure and prevention of PTSD. JAMA Network Open. October 1, 2024;7(10), e2440388.