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

> **NIH VA IK2** · VA WESTERN NEW YORK HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · 2020 · —

## 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:** 9720742
- **Project number:** 1IK2HX002610-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VA WESTERN NEW YORK HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** Julie C Gass
- **Activity code:** IK2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2019-07-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9720742

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9720742, Developing a Team-Delivered Intervention for Smoking and Hazardous Drinking for Primary Care Veterans with Cardiovascular Diseases (1IK2HX002610-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9720742. Licensed CC0.

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