# Feasibility Study of Compassion Meditation Intervention for Older Veterans in Primary Care with Anxiety or Mood Disorders

> **NIH VA I21** · VA SAN DIEGO HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · 2020 · —

## Abstract

Older Veterans show a high prevalence of clinically significant psychological distress such as anxiety and
depressive symptoms. This high prevalence includes patients seen in Primary Care clinics. These symptoms
are not only aversive in themselves, they are also associated with risk of psychosocial disability, increased
medical comorbidity, early mortality, and increased health care costs. Although these concerns similarly exist
among younger Veterans, the situation is particularly problematic among older Veterans as older age is
associated with low utilization of mental health services. Prior research focused on identifying barriers to
mental health care utilization among older Veterans have repeatedly pointed to the perceived stigma of
symptom-focused treatments, which can be perceived by some Veterans as being “deficit-focused”. Therefore, it
may be useful to develop effective strengths-based interventions. Compassion meditation (CM) training is a
promising strengths-focused candidate in this regard, in that prior research, albeit with civilian samples, has
suggested CM training promotes positive emotions and well-being, while reducing anxiety, depression, and
other negative emotions. There has been less research with Veteran samples, but one study by Lang and
colleagues also suggested effectiveness for Veterans with PTSD. CM has not been adapted or tested in the
context of treating older Veterans with anxiety or depression. The proposed project will collect pilot data to
establish feasibility for a future randomized controlled trial (RCT) of manualized CM group intervention to
restore functioning in older Veterans identified through VA Primary Care clinics as having clinically significant
psychological distress. This non-randomized feasibility study represents a critical initial step in adapting CM
and evaluating its potential as an effective strengths-focused treatment for use with this population.
Participants will include up to 40 Veterans age > 55 years identified through the Primary Care Mental Health
Integrated program at the VA San Diego Healthcare System with mild-to-moderate anxiety or depressive
symptoms. Twenty to 30 of these participants will be enrolled in a 10-week CM training group (with 8-10
participants in each group). The groups will be conducted with a manualized CM intervention, although part of
the goal of the feasibility study is to identify and adapt the intervention to the needs of this specific population.
Key questions for the feasibility study include determining participants' willingness to enroll, adherence and
completion of the intervention, as well as to determine appropriate modifications in the intervention to make it
maximally acceptable and appropriate to older Veterans. We will also be collecting pilot data regarding the
potential of the intervention to improve well-being, symptom severity, and/or positive psychological factors.
There is a growing interest in the field in expanding outcome measures beyond s...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9964522
- **Project number:** 5I21RX003186-02
- **Recipient organization:** VA SAN DIEGO HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** Barton W. Palmer
- **Activity code:** I21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9964522

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9964522, Feasibility Study of Compassion Meditation Intervention for Older Veterans in Primary Care with Anxiety or Mood Disorders (5I21RX003186-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9964522. Licensed CC0.

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