Teachable Moment to Opt-out of Tobacco: Interactive Voice Response Quit Line for Veteran Active Smokers With Lung Nodules (TeaMOUT)

June 3, 2026 updated by: VA Office of Research and Development

Teachable Moment to Opt-out of Tobacco (TeaM OUT): A Stepped Wedge Cluster Randomized Intervention

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a smoking cessation outreach intervention (TeaM OUT) on increasing use of smoking cessation resources in Veterans. The hypotheses are 1) patients included in the TeaM OUT group will have higher accession of cessation services, such as counseling and medication therapies, compared to patients in enhanced usual care and 2) more patients in the TeaM OUT group will have quit smoking at one year after the intervention.

Veterans with a recently diagnosed lung nodule who currently smoke will receive the TeaM OUT intervention or Enhanced Usual Care. The TeaM OUT intervention has 2 parts: 1) a letter that a) describes the nodule and the importance of cessation related to the pulmonary nodule (i.e. teachable moment) and b) notification that a Proactive IVR Quit Line will initiate contact and 2) call(s) from the Proactive IVR Quit Line which a) offers smoking cessation resources and b) helps connect the patient to those resources. The enhanced usual care group will receive a letter that provides information about how to contact the IVR Quit Line.

The IVR system will track referrals to cessation services. Additional information about smoking status and use of cessation resources will be collected from the electronic health record and surveys.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

223

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Minnesota
      • Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55417-2309
        • Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN
    • Oregon
      • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97207-2964
        • VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR
    • South Carolina
      • Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 29401-5799
        • Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Charleston, SC

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Newly diagnosed pulmonary nodule with plan for surveillance
  • Active smoker
  • Receiving care at the Portland VA Health Care System, the Minneapolis VA Health Care System, or the Ralph H. Johnson Medical Center (Charleston, SC VA)

Exclusion Criteria:

-No exclusion criteria

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: TeaM OUT Intervention
The TeaM OUT Intervention has 2 elements: 1) a letter that a) describes the nodule and the importance of cessation related to the pulmonary nodule (i.e. teachable moment) and b) notification that a Proactive IVR Quit line will initiate contact and 2) call(s) from the Proactive IVR Quit Line which a) offers smoking cessation resources and b) helps connect the patient to those resources.
Behavioral: TeaM OUT Intervention
The TeaM OUT Intervention has 2 elements: 1) a letter that a) describes the nodule and the importance of cessation related to the pulmonary nodule (i.e. teachable moment) and b) notification that a Proactive IVR Quit line will initiate contact and 2) call(s) from the Proactive IVR Quit Line which a) offers smoking cessation resources and b) helps connect the patient to those resources.
Other: Enhanced Usual Care
The Enhanced Usual Care arm also has two elements: 1) a letter that a) describes the nodule without linking it to smoking cessation (i.e. no teachable moment) with b) wording to contact an Optional IVR Quit line if desired and 2) the Optional IVR Quit line which a) offers smoking cessation resources and b) helps connect the patient to those resources.
Behavioral: Enhanced Usual Care
The Enhanced Usual Care arm also has two elements: 1) a letter that a) describes the nodule without linking it to smoking cessation (i.e. no teachable moment) with b) wording to contact an Optional IVR Quit line if desired and 2) the Optional IVR Quit line which a) offers smoking cessation resources and b) helps connect the patient to those resources.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
IVR connection to smoking cessation service
Time Frame: 56 weeks after nodule identification
A positive (yes) response is a completed call to a patient who then indicates (by pressing the number keypad) to be connected to one or more smoking cessation resources. In the control group, if the patient calls the Optional IVR Quitline and then requests to be connected to smoking cessation resources it is counted as a positive response. Each patient will be categorized as a "yes" after her/his first positive response to the system, regardless of how many times he/she actually engages with the system.
56 weeks after nodule identification
7-day point prevalence nicotine abstinence
Time Frame: 56 weeks after exposure to TeaM OUT Intervention or Enhanced Usual Care
Aim 2: Participants will be considered to have quit smoking (including non-combustible) if they respond "no" to the question, "Have you smoked a cigarette (regular or e-cigarette), even a puff, in the past 7 days?"
56 weeks after exposure to TeaM OUT Intervention or Enhanced Usual Care

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Utilization of cessation resources
Time Frame: 72 weeks after nodule identification
Aim 1: Utilization includes new prescriptions and refills for nicotine-replacement therapies, anti-smoking medications, referrals to smoking cessation counseling, and attendance of smoking cessation counseling session, as recorded in the electronic health record.
72 weeks after nodule identification
Incremental Behavior Change Toward Smoking Cessation (IBC-S)
Time Frame: 56 weeks after exposure to TeaM OUT Intervention or Enhanced Usual Care
Aim 2: Measure is the summed score of the Incremental Behavior Change toward Smoking cessation (IBC-S) scale.
56 weeks after exposure to TeaM OUT Intervention or Enhanced Usual Care

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Qualitative analysis of IVR intervention
Time Frame: Patients--56 weeks after exposure to TeaM OUT Intervention or Enhanced Usual Care; Clinical Stakeholders--at least 6 months after clinic randomization
Aim 3: Interviews with patients and clinical stakeholders will collect feedback about the IVR intervention. Interview content will be analyzed using qualitative description. Interview transcripts will be reviewed and coded by the qualitative analysts. Development of the codes will occur in the context of the qualitative data. The analysts will discuss the codes, achieve consensus, resolve differences, and modify the codes if necessary.
Patients--56 weeks after exposure to TeaM OUT Intervention or Enhanced Usual Care; Clinical Stakeholders--at least 6 months after clinic randomization

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development

Collaborators

Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Christopher G. Slatore, MD MS, VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 12, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 31, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 3, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 28, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

October 5, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 5, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 3, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IIR 19-425

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified data will be saved in our IRB-approved Health Services Research Repository (Portland VA IRB #3535) at the conclusion of the study and requests for access can be submitted to the study team.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Conclusion of the study, estimated to be January 2027

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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