# Measurement-Based Transition Assistance (MBTA): Evaluating the Promise of a Web-Based Approach to Promote Veterans' Support Seeking

> **NIH VA I01** · VA BOSTON HEALTH CARE SYSTEM · 2022 · —

## Abstract

Background: There is a growing recognition that Veterans’ broader vocational, financial, and social
circumstances have substantial implications for their health and health care. These circumstances include
factors such as whether a Veteran has a job, can pay his or her bills, and has a strong social support network.
Although some Veterans seek help when they experience challenges in these life domains, many do not. One
factor that stands in the way of Veterans’ help-seeking is lack of knowledge, both with regard to how severe
challenges must be to warrant help-seeking and what resources are available to address these challenges. If
not addressed, Veterans’ readjustment challenges may become chronic, escalate in severity, and negatively
influence more aspects of Veterans’ lives over time and thus, become more difficult to intervene on.
Significance: This study will provide a preliminary examination of the potential benefit of Measurement-Based
Transition Assistance (MBTA) in promoting Veterans’ help-seeking. MBTA involves providing individualized
feedback on areas in which Veterans would benefit from additional support, along with personalized
recommendations for relevant programs, services, and supports. If effective, this scalable, population-based
intervention strategy could be used independently or in conjunction with other help-seeking promotion
approaches to interrupt high-risk trajectories before they lead to chronic maladjustment and risk for suicide.
Innovation and Impact: While there has been substantial attention to the importance of promoting Veterans’
use of mental health care, we are not aware of any broad, measurement-based effort to enhance Veterans’
willingness to seek help for multiple areas of unmet need. In addition, most intervention strategies are targeted
to the needs of Veterans with chronic patterns of functional impairment and poor health rather than Veterans
who experience initial readjustment challenges as they adapt to post-military life. The current project is
innovative in its evaluation of a self-administered, population-based approach to raise Veterans’ awareness of
areas in which they may benefit from additional support and to connect them with relevant resources. Given
that MBTA may be most beneficial to Veterans who experience initial readjustment challenges as they adapt to
post-military life, this intervention will be evaluated among Veterans who have recently left military service.
Specific Aim: Aim 1 is to refine MBTA based on input from VA stakeholders (n=6) and qualitative interviews
with Veterans (n=12). A key focus of this aim is to determine the optimal approach for presenting results and
recommended resources. Aim 2 is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of
MBTA in promoting Veterans’ support-seeking by testing this intervention in a sample of 60 Veterans.
Methodology: The proposed work will be guided by established methods for intervention development and
implemen...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10304809
- **Project number:** 1I01HX003443-01
- **Recipient organization:** VA BOSTON HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** Dawne Suzanne Vogt-Ryan
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-01-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10304809

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10304809, Measurement-Based Transition Assistance (MBTA): Evaluating the Promise of a Web-Based Approach to Promote Veterans' Support Seeking (1I01HX003443-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10304809. Licensed CC0.

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