# Veteran Social Support Intervention for Enhancing Smoking Treatment Utilization and Cessation

> **NIH VA I01** · MINNEAPOLIS VA  MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · —

## Abstract

Background: Enhancing access and use of evidence-based tobacco cessation treatments and eliminating
tobacco-related health disparities are top national and VA health services priorities. The prevalence of tobacco
use is greater among Veterans compared to non-Veterans. From 2010-2015, 29% of women and 21% of male
Veterans reported current cigarette smoking. Evidence-based cessation treatments (EBCTs) such as, tobacco
quitlines, behavioral counseling, and pharmacotherapy, are greatly underutilized by Veteran smokers. Gaps
remain in reaching women Veterans and use of existing social support networks to enhance use of EBCTs and
cessation among Veterans
Innovation and Impact: This project is innovative for evaluating social support networks as a proactive
outreach approach to enhance cessation treatment utilization among Veteran smokers. The role of social
network influences and social support on successful smoking cessation is established. Based on Cohen’s
theory of social support, our team developed a social support intervention for diverse family members, friends,
and other adults who wanted to help a smoker quit. The intervention consists of written materials and a 1-call,
15-25 minute coaching session. It is expected to be especially beneficial for Veteran smokers who might not
otherwise access cessation treatment. Because our prior VHA trials enrolled about 94% men and the higher
smoking rates among women, we will oversample women to enroll an equal number of men and women
smokers. Our study contributes to VA HSR&D’s priority initiatives for enhancing treatment access and
women’s health and is significant because it will advance research on the role of partnering with Veterans’
families and/or important others to enhance access to VA healthcare and population-specific treatments,
especially women Veterans. The potential reach and public health impact of an effective social support
intervention for the Veteran tobacco user population is considerable.
Specific Aims: (Aim 1) To evaluate the impact of the social support intervention on Veteran smokers’ use of
EBCT, (Aim 2) To examine the effectiveness of the social support intervention on the biochemically confirmed
7-day point prevalence cigarette smoking abstinence, (Aim 3) To explore potential moderators (e.g., smoker
gender, SP tobacco use status) of intervention effects on study outcomes, and (Aim 4) To conduct a process
evaluation assessing implementation outcomes (reach, adoption, fidelity) of the social support intervention and
multilevel factors that may influence implementation.
Methodology: We will conduct a pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) within the national VHA health
system to evaluate the effectiveness of a social support intervention compared with a control condition on
utilization of EBCT among VHA-enrolled smokers. Veteran smokers, regardless of level of readiness to quit,
will be identified nationally using the VHA electronic health record and proactively recruited. In...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10871674
- **Project number:** 5I01HX003185-02
- **Recipient organization:** MINNEAPOLIS VA  MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** STEVEN FU
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-06-01 → 2026-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10871674

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10871674, Veteran Social Support Intervention for Enhancing Smoking Treatment Utilization and Cessation (5I01HX003185-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10871674. Licensed CC0.

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