Assessing the Feasibility of VA Whole Health Coaching for Veterans With Complex Health Concerns

Assessing the Feasibility and Acceptability of VA Whole Health Coaching for Veterans With Complex Health Concerns

This study examines the impact of a VA Whole Health coaching program aimed at improving Veteran's health and well-being by increasing healthy lifestyle behaviors in treatment-seeking Veterans receiving care at the DC and CA War Related Illness and Injury Study Centers.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Complex Health Concerns
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: VA Whole Health coaching

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 50
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • District of Columbia
    • Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States, 20422
      • Washington, DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

•Veterans receiving a clinical evaluation at the War Related Illness and Injury Study Centers in Washington, DC or Palo Alto, California.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current active suicidal or homicidal ideation
• Current or lifetime history of a psychiatric disorder with primary psychotic features
• Current or lifetime bipolar disorder
• Acute or unstable psychiatric condition(s) and/or chronic illnesses that would benefit from immediate referral for treatment
• Neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, advanced Parkinson's disease, and unstable epilepsy
• Pregnancy
• Current exposure to trauma, or exposure to trauma in the past 3 months
• Current or within the past 30 days substance abuse or dependence (except nicotine)
• Excessive alcohol intake defined as an AUDIT score ≥ 4 for men and an AUDIT score ≥ 3 for women.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Health Coaching	Other: VA Whole Health coaching; The VA Whole Health coaching intervention will consist of seventeen, 30 to 60-minute telehealth sessions that were dispersed over seven to nine months. Participants will work closely with a health coach to create a plan for making appropriate lifestyle changes.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Feasibility (recruitment rate)	Calculated as the number of participants who consented into the study divided by the number of participants who were approached for study participation.	Through study completion, an average of 7 months
Feasibility (retention rate)	Calculated as a percentage for each time point (3 months and 6 months).	Through study completion, an average of 7 months
Feasibility (adherence rate)	Calculated as the number of health coaching sessions completed out of 17 total sessions.	Through study completion, an average of 7 months
Safety of Whole Health coaching intervention	Reported as the number of adverse events self-reported by participants during the intervention	Through study completion, an average of 7 months
Acceptability	Acceptability was evaluated qualitatively using feedback captured during health coaching sessions.	Through study completion, an average of 7 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
RAND 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36)	To measure physical and mental health-related quality of life.	Baseline to mid-intervention and baseline to post-intervention
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)	To assess sleep quality and sleep disturbances	Baseline to post-intervention
Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7)	To assess the level of anxiety symptoms	Baseline to post-intervention
Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ)	To evaluate mindfulness	Baseline to post-intervention
Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ8)	To assess the level of depression symptoms	Baseline to post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: War Related Illness and Injury Study Center
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Rebecca McCullers, RN, NBC-HWC, War Related Illness and Injury Study Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 3, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 10, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): November 10, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 26, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 26, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): December 2, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 10, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Health coaching, chronic multisymptom illness
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1592308

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