# Patient-centered Strategies to Engage Veterans in Behavioral Health Services

> **NIH VA IK2** · VETERANS ADMIN PALO ALTO HEALTH CARE SYS · 2020 · —

## Abstract

This CDA will provide Jessica Y. Breland, PhD with the training and experience to become an
independent VA health services researcher focused on implementing patient-centered strategies to engage
Veterans in behavioral health services. To achieve this goal, she will work with her mentors and consultants
to develop and evaluate a patient-centered, motivational, self-help tool to increase engagement in weight
loss treatments through three steps: 1
)
Identify patient and organizational predictors of weight loss
treatment engagement; 2) Develop a motivational, self-help tool to engage Veterans in weight loss
treatments; and 3) Pilot-test the self-help tool.
 Almost 80% of Veterans (and ~70% of other Americans) are overweight/obese, increasing their risk
of costly and debilitating chronic conditions. Given that weight loss treatments reduce diabetes and other
conditions, increasing weight loss treatment engagement (any and sustained engagement) could prolong
millions of lives. Unfortunately, VA has a weight loss treatment implementation gap: VA offers treatment to
94% of overweight/obese Veterans, but only 10% use them. Further, while motivational interviewing
improves engagement, clinicians have limited time to use it. A motivational, self-help tool could increase
weight loss treatment engagement without requiring clinicians' time.
 To develop the tool, Dr. Breland proposes a mixed-methods approach offering three significant
innovations: a population health orientation, a self-help application of motivational interviewing, and a novel
theoretical basis for evaluation that uses implementation science and theories of health beliefs and
behaviors. In Aim 1.1, she will identify VA behavioral weight loss treatments, including, but not limited to
MOVE! (VA's primary weight loss treatment), through interviews with clinicians and national leaders.
Results will identify dependent variables for Aim 1.2 analyses and treatments to include in the self-help tool
(Aim 2.3). In Aim 1.2, she will identify patient and organizational predictors of engagement in the weight
loss treatments identified in Aim 1.1, stratifying analyses by gender and using the existing Women's Health
Evaluation Initiative Master Database. Results will offer population-level data on weight loss treatment
engagement, and some of the first data on engagement in VA treatments other than MOVE!. Results will
also identify populations and organizational factors associated with poor engagement, to further understand
through interviews with clinicians (Aim 2.1) and Veterans (2.2) to develop tool content and define
implementation strategies. In Aim 2.3, she will use results of prior aims to adapt existing motivational
interviewing protocols into an interactive, motivational, self-help tool that uses text and videos to enhance
engagement in weight loss treatments. Finally, she will pilot-test the tool by recruiting VA Palo Alto primary
care clinicians and patients (Aim 3). Results will assess the feasi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10175013
- **Project number:** 5IK2HX002125-04
- **Recipient organization:** VETERANS ADMIN PALO ALTO HEALTH CARE SYS
- **Principal Investigator:** Jessica Yelena Breland
- **Activity code:** IK2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-10-01 → 2021-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10175013

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10175013, Patient-centered Strategies to Engage Veterans in Behavioral Health Services (5IK2HX002125-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10175013. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*