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

February 10, 2026 updated by: War Related Illness and Injury Study Center

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

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

50

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

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

  • 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

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

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)
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 7 months
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)
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 7 months
Calculated as a percentage for each time point (3 months and 6 months).
Through study completion, an average of 7 months
Feasibility (adherence rate)
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 7 months
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
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 7 months
Reported as the number of adverse events self-reported by participants during the intervention
Through study completion, an average of 7 months
Acceptability
Time Frame: Through study completion, an average of 7 months
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)
Time Frame: Baseline to mid-intervention and baseline to post-intervention
To measure physical and mental health-related quality of life.
Baseline to mid-intervention and baseline to post-intervention
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)
Time Frame: Baseline to post-intervention
To assess sleep quality and sleep disturbances
Baseline to post-intervention
Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7)
Time Frame: Baseline to post-intervention
To assess the level of anxiety symptoms
Baseline to post-intervention
Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ)
Time Frame: Baseline to post-intervention
To evaluate mindfulness
Baseline to post-intervention
Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ8)
Time Frame: Baseline to post-intervention
To assess the level of depression symptoms
Baseline to post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

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

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)

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

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

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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