Recruiting

Social Support

Sponsor:

VA Office of Research and Development

Code:

NCT05868421

Conditions

Smoking Cessation

Veterans Health

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Support Person Coaching Call

SP written materials

Written Smoking Cessation Materials

Study Details

Brief summary:

This study is recruiting Veterans who currently smoke cigarettes and support persons who are nominated by the Veterans. The purpose of this study is to assist Veterans with smoking cessation by asking Veterans to choose a support person who will assist them with the quitting process, or who may assist them with the quitting process once the Veteran is ready to quit smoking sometime in the future. Study staff will assess how much or how little social support during the Veteran's quitting process is helpful to the Veteran. This information will help us come up with new ways to help Veterans quit smoking that are better tailored to their needs.

Conditions

Smoking Cessation

Veterans Health

Study ID

NCT05868421

Start date

Feb 1, 2024

Status verified date

Jan, 2026

Completion date

Feb 1, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Feb 1, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

Veteran Inclusion Criteria

  • Smoked 1 cigarettes over the past 30 days, even a puff
  • If using other tobacco or nicotine products, cigarettes are the main product used
  • Able to identify one adult family member or friend (SP) with whom they have contact (of any form) at least 3 times per week who will enroll Veteran Support Person Inclusion Criteria
  • Willing to support the Veteran smoker
  • Have to have access to any type of phone (or tablet for video call) for delivery of the SP intervention

Exclusion Criteria:

Veteran Exclusion Criteria

  • Have used cessation medications or a stop smoking program within the past 3 months
  • Have no valid phone contact information

Study Design

Enrollment

2376 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Health Services Research

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Support Person Coaching Call and Written Materials

Support persons will receive written material resources on support strategies to stop smoking, and resources on how to stop smoking. Support person participants assigned to the intervention group will additionally receive a 1-call coaching session about 15-25 minutes in duration on how to support their Veteran smoker. The coaching session will be delivered by research staff by phone or video call. Veteran smokers will receive written smoking cessation resource and referral information for VHA and non-VHA EBCT options.

active comparator: Written Materials Only

Support persons will receive written material resources on support strategies to stop smoking, and resources on how to stop smoking. Veteran smokers will receive written smoking cessation resource and referral information for VHA and non-VHA EBCT options.

Interventions

Support Person Coaching Call

Support person participants assigned to the intervention group will additionally receive a 1-call coaching session about 15-25 minutes in duration on how to support their Veteran smoker. The session will be delivered by research staff by phone or video call. Support persons in the intervention group and the control/no intervention group will receive existing written material resources on support strategies to stop smoking, and resources on how to stop smoking by postal mail or email.

SP written materials

Written materials covering tips on effective supportive strategies for smoking cessation

Written Smoking Cessation Materials

Written materials on resource and referral information for VHA and non-VHA EBCT options

Primary outcome measure

  • Use of Any Evidence-Based Cessation Treatments (EBCTs) [ Time Frame: 6 months ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Alicia B Woodward-Abel

(612) 467-1229alicia.woodward-abel@va.gov

Sarah Becker

(612) 467-1515Sarah.Becker4@va.gov

Locations

Minneapolis VA Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN

Recruiting

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55417-2309

Contacts

Alicia B Woodward-Abel

612-467-1229alicia.woodward-abel@va.gov

Sarah Becker

(612) 467-1515Sarah.Becker4@va.gov

Principal Investigator:

Steven S. Fu, MD MSCE

More Information

Sponsor

VA Office of Research and Development

Last update posted

Jan 16, 2026

Last verified

Jan, 2026

Keywords

  • Smoking cessation
  • Social support
  • Veterans health
  • Tobacco cessation
  • Support persons

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by VA Office of Research and Development on 2026-01-16.