Developing a Team-Delivered Intervention for Smoking and Hazardous Drinking for Primary Care Veterans with Cardiovascular Diseases

NIH RePORTER · VA · IK2 · · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

Many Veterans (30.4%) with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) continue to engage in behaviors that increase risk of cardiovascular events and early mortality, such as smoking or hazardous drinking. While the VA has several programs designed to help Veterans quit smoking or quit/reduce drinking, there is a gap in service for Veterans who are not ready for change-based treatments but continue to smoke or drink hazardously. VA Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACTs) screen all patients annually for alcohol and tobacco use, and thus the PACT platform is an ideal way to reach Veterans with CVDs who smoke and/or drink hazardously. Through the Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) initiative, mental and behavioral health providers are embedded to provide effective, evidence-based, Veteran-centered, behavioral health interventions for a variety of co-occurring behavioral health concerns and medical problems. Educational and self-monitoring interventions are evidence-based and increase substance users' intentions to make a behavior change, and additionally improve patient factors including engagement, willingness to accept behavioral health referrals, and self-management strategies. This research proposal focuses on adapting elements of these evidence- based interventions specifically for a PACT-based VA setting to appeal to Veterans not yet ready to change smoking and/or drinking. This intervention aims to increase intention to change and may improve rates of cessation and engagement with change-based programs. The intervention will fill a gap in care and potentially improve the health and longevity of Veterans seen in PACT. Dr. Julie Gass is a clinical psychologist and postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Integrated Healthcare (CIH), a VA Mental Health Center of Excellence charged with improving Veteran healthcare through PCMHI. The purpose of this Career Development Award-2 (CDA-2) is to facilitate Dr. Gass's transition into an independent HSR&D investigator with a long-term objective of improving Veterans' health by studying the effectiveness of evidence-based, Veteran-centered interventions for commonly co-occurring behavioral and medical concerns within PACT patients. The short-term objective of this CDA-2 is to obtain formal training, expert mentorship, and research experience to facilitate a VA HSR&D career focused on improving interventions and PACT processes for Veterans who smoke and/or drink hazardously while diagnosed with CVDs. The CDA-2 will provide Dr. Gass (who has experience in tobacco treatment/research) with needed training in (1) RCT design, implementation, and data analysis; (2) team-based care in PC; (3) brief alcohol treatments; (4) qualitative analysis for intervention development; and (5) grantsmanship, which will allow her to conduct the three projects comprising the CDA-2 research plan. As it is important that any new intervention be accessible and feasible for the PACT and the patient, this research will use the extant lite...

Key facts

NIH application ID
10213834
Project number
5IK2HX002610-03
Recipient
VA WESTERN NEW YORK HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Principal Investigator
Julie C Gass
Activity code
IK2
Funding institute
VA
Fiscal year
2022
Award amount
Award type
5
Project period
2019-07-01 → 2024-06-30