Health Coaching: A Pilot Trial Among Reintegrating Veterans

May 13, 2026 updated by: VA Office of Research and Development

A Pilot Trial of Health Coaching to Improve Functioning and Reduce Suicide Risk Among Reintegrating Veterans

Health coaches help people focus on goals, identify strengths and values, and work towards building the life they wish to live. Health coaching may be especially helpful for people navigating a life transition, such as Veterans who recently separated from military service (i.e., reintegrating Veterans). In this pilot trial the investigators will 1) examine the feasibility of study procedures and acceptability of health coaching among reintegrating Veterans, 2) evaluate measures for suitability in a future trial that will examine efficacy of the intervention, 3) determine barriers and facilitators to implementing the intervention among reintegrating Veterans.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This pilot study is designed to provide data to inform the design and procedures of a future efficacy trial of health coaching among reintegrating Veterans. An enrollment rate 30% and an assessment completion rate 65% at 9 months will be considered feasible enrollment and assessment completion rates for a future efficacy trial. An intervention completion rate 70% and mean score 27 on the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8 will indicate acceptability. Evaluation of measures will entail quantifying the mean levels in this population, characterizing typical variation in the outcomes, descriptive analyses of within-person change across time, and adjusted estimates of treatment effect sizes with 95% confidence intervals to calibrate the sample size needs of a fully powered trial. Qualitative interviews with participants will provide information on barriers and facilitators to implementation as well as perceived benefits and potential harms.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

95

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
    • Oregon
      • Portland, Oregon, United States, 97207-2964
        • VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR

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

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • United States military Veterans recently separated from service

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Currently living in an institution (e.g., nursing home, prison)
  • Cognitive impairment as indicated by a score equal to or greater than 10 on the Short Blessed Test
  • Currently experiencing psychosis as indicated by endorsing thought interference or hallucinations on the Psychosis Screening Questionnaire
  • At acute risk for suicide as indicated by the P4 screener
  • Unable to read or understand English

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: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Health Coaching
Receipt of up to 12 sessions of health coaching, plus printed materials providing information on VA benefits
Behavioral: Health Coaching
Health coaches help people focus on goals, identify strengths and values, and work towards building the kind of life they wish to live.
Behavioral: VA Benefits Information
Printed materials with information on VA benefits.
Active Comparator: VA Benefits Information
Receipt of printed materials providing information on VA benefits
Behavioral: VA Benefits Information
Printed materials with information on VA benefits.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Military to Civilian Questionnaire
Time Frame: Month 4
The Military to Civilian Questionnaire scores range from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating a higher degree of reintegrating difficulty.
Month 4
Well-being Inventory - Functional Status
Time Frame: Month 4
The Functional Status composite measure from the Well-being Inventory scores range from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating a higher level of functioning.
Month 4
Depressive Symptom Index - Suicidality Subscale
Time Frame: Month 4
Reported as count of participants with no suicidal ideation
Month 4
Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale
Time Frame: Month 4
Reported as count of participants with no suicidal ideation
Month 4

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of VA healthcare visits (primary care, mental health, or other specialty care visits)
Time Frame: Month 4
Number of VA healthcare visits (primary care, mental health, or other specialty care visits) completed during the first four months of study participation, with higher number of visits indicating higher VA care utilization.
Month 4
Number of VA healthcare visits (primary care, mental health, or other specialty care visits)
Time Frame: Month 9
Number of VA healthcare visits (primary care, mental health, or other specialty care visits) completed during study participation (9 months), with higher number of visits indicating higher VA care utilization.
Month 9

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development

Collaborators

University of Michigan
VA Finger Lakes Healthcare System

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Lauren M. Denneson, PhD, 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)

November 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 31, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

March 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 10, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 5, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

January 20, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 13, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • D3704-R

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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