Substance Related Disorders

Behaviors and Mental Disorders

All Conditions

Neoplasms

Respiratory Tract (Lung and Bronchial) Diseases

Tobacco Use Disorder

Lung Neoplasms

Substance-Related Disorders

Chemically-Induced Disorders

Mental Disorders

Psychotic Disorders

The investigators will iteratively develop an acceptable mobile CM protocol using qualitative feedback from Veterans in VA patients in LCS or in cancer care and LCS and oncology staff.

Veterans in VA LCS or cancer care will receive mobile CM plus behavioral counseling and cessation medication over 5 weeks.

Participants assigned to TAU will receive time-matched Medication Management plus usual care (referral to VA Tobacco Cessation Clinic and provision of the VA Telequit quitline).

In 60-minute focus groups, participants will be categorized based on their survey responses and engaged in semi-structured discussions using open-ended questions and probes to gather detailed information. The moderators will follow best practices in qualitative research, introducing the topic of smoking cessation in the context of cancer screening and treatment and guiding the discussions from broader issues to participant-generated examples.

Focus Group

Participants will provide baseline data on their recent substance use and smoking habits and severity. They will receive a CO monitor and iCO app and will upload videos verifying smoking abstinence a minimum of once per day, 5 times per week. Financial incentives will be provided at weekly visits contingent on tobacco abstinence verified through Remote (mobile) CO monitoring. They will receive clinician feedback at the time of each CO reading, following established VA protocols for CM.

Contingency Management

Participants will receive a 5-session smoking cessation behavioral counseling for approximately 15-20 minutes weekly. Sessions may be held by secure video conference or by telephone, per participant preference. Sessions will use CBT principles with MI incorporated for resolving reluctance to quit.

Behavioral Counseling (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT)

Participants assigned to TAU will receive referral to VA Tobacco Cessation Clinic and provision of the VA Telequit quitline. The VA Tobacco Cessation Clinic is modeled after VA Tobacco Cessation Clinics across all VA facilities and involves delivery of brief counseling and pharmacotherapy for TUD if desired. VA Telequit is a national toll-free number available to Veterans that allows them to speak with a smoking cessation counselor for a recommended minimum of five sessions to develop a quit plan and receive counseling, strategies to prevent relapse, and weekly proactive follow-up calls based on National Cancer Institute guidelines.

TUD Treatment as Usual (TAU)

Ellen Herbst, MD

Madeline Martinez Rivas, PhD

Tobacco use among US Veterans poses significant health problems and challenges to their overall well-being. The aim of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of a program called Contingency Management (CM) in helping Veterans quit smoking during lung cancer screening or cancer care at VA clinics. CM is a behavioral treatment that uses rewards to encourage smoking cessation when verified through biological testing. In the first year, the researchers will develop a mobile CM protocol based on feedback from Veterans and healthcare staff through focus groups. In the second year, they will conduct a pilot study to test the feasibility of the mobile CM program along with counseling and medication for 20 Veterans over a five-week period. The success of the pilot study will determine whether to proceed with a larger randomized controlled trial (RCT) in years three to six, comparing the efficacy of mobile CM with standard treatment. The project will take place at SFVA.

Smoking at the time of lung cancer screening (LCS) or cancer diagnosis is associated with treatment failure, shortened lifespan, and diminished quality of life. Beyond the increased morbidity and mortality, smoking after a cancer diagnosis is associated with an estimated $3.4 billion in healthcare costs. Despite these risks, the VA does not routinely integrate smoking cessation treatment into LCS screening or cancer care, and quit rates are low.

Contingency Management (C) is a behavioral therapy approach that reinforces desired behaviors, such as smoking cessation, through the provision of tangible rewards or incentives. The goal of this Proof of Concept and Clinical Trial project is to evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of Contingency Management (CM) for smoking cessation among Veterans in lung cancer screening (LCS) or cancer care in Veterans Affairs (VA) clinics.

Research indicates that CM must be tailored to the clinical population and context. This staged investigation will occur in three phases. First, the investigators will conduct Focus Groups, to iteratively develop an acceptable mobile CM protocol using qualitative feedback from Veterans in VA patients in LCS or in cancer care and LCS and oncology staff. Afterward, the investigators will conduct a Pilot Study to examine the feasibility of mobile smoking cessation CM with for VA patients in LCS or in cancer care. In a single arm study, Veterans in VA LCS or cancer care will receive mobile CM plus behavioral counseling and cessation medication over 5 weeks. If successful, the investigators will conduct a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) to assess efficacy of mobile CM compared with treatment as usual (TAU). Veterans diagnosed with cancer or in LCS will be randomized to receive a 5-week CM condition (CM plus behavioral counseling) or TAU (referral to VA Tobacco Cessation Clinic and VA quitline). Both groups will receive pharmacotherapy.

The primary aims of this study are to develop an acceptable mobile CM protocol through qualitative feedback from Veterans and VA staff, to examine the feasibility of mobile smoking cessation CM among Veterans in LCS or cancer care through a pilot study, and to assess the efficacy of mobile CM compared to treatment as usual through a randomized controlled trial among Veterans diagnosed with cancer or in LCS.

Smoking Cessation CM for Veterans With or at Risk for Cancer

Contingency Management for Veteran Smokers With or at Risk for Cancer

Audio recordings will be analyzed by the research team using a template-based rapid analysis technique developed for health services research. A structured summary will be prepared, organized by topical areas drawn from the interview/focus group guide, to identify and describe themes within each topical domain.

Assesses age at first use, duration of use, use of all forms of nicotine and tobacco, prior quit attempts (defined as a period of intentionally not smoking for 24 hours), duration of cessation (if any), and presence of other tobacco users in the home. It will be used in the analytic process to correlate findings/themes with characteristics.

It is a validated 46 item instrument that evaluates smoking-related knowledge, beliefs, self-efficacy, cessation treatment practices, and barriers to cessation treatment delivery among healthcare providers. The scores are from the summed items. Higher scores equal more tobacco treatment and the range of scores is 0-26.

Assesses age, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, relationship status, income, education level, military history, service-connected disability status, housing status, and employment status. It will be analyzed through bivariate associations with outcomes (attendance, rate of video uploads).

Study engagement will be assessed by tracking the number of participants attend each intervention session over the course of the 5-week intervention period. It will be analyzed through bivariate associations with participant demographics. Differences over time in measurements will be examined using generalized mixed models.

Study engagement will be assessed by the proportion of videos uploaded. Videos will be uploaded from Monday to Friday. It will be analyzed through bivariate associations with participant demographics. Differences over time in measurements will be examined using generalized mixed models.

Study feasibility will be assessed by recruitment yield, i.e., tracking the number of participants who initiated treatment.

Study retention as assessed by the number of participants that completed the study.

Assesses age, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, relationship status, income, education level, military history, service-connected disability status, housing status, and employment status. It will be analyzed through bivariate associations with outcome variables and primary independent variables.

Self-reported use of medication for tobacco use disorder will be assessed with TLFB (past 30 days), which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the quantity and frequency of use.

The Contemplation Ladder is a visual analog comprised of 11 rungs and 5 anchor statements, representing stages of change. The response options (0) to (3) corresponded with the stage of precontemplation, (4) to (6) represented the stage of contemplation, (7) and (8) referred to the stage of preparation, (9) and (10) represented the stage of action and stage of maintenance respectively. It is a brief measure of motivation or readiness to change, where (0) is the least motivated and (10) is the most motivated. This measure has been validated for cigarette and other substance use.

Assesses age at first use, duration of use, use of all forms of nicotine and tobacco, prior quit attempts (defined as a period of intentionally not smoking for 24 hours), duration of cessation, and presence of other tobacco users in the home and will be completed in Week 0. At Follow Ups (Weeks 5, 12 and 24), the survey will inquire about frequency and duration of quit attempts

The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence is a standard instrument for assessing the intensity of physical addiction to nicotine. It contains six items that evaluate the quantity of cigarette consumption, the compulsion to use, and dependence. In scoring the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence, yes/no items are scored from 0 to 1 and multiple-choice items are scored from 0 to 3. The items are summed to yield a total score of 0-10. The higher the total Fagerström score, the more intense is the patient's physical dependence on nicotine.

The QSU-Brief consists of 10 statements about the respondent's feelings and thoughts about his or her desire to smoke cigarettes as he or she is completing the questionnaire (i.e., right now). Each response is scored a number ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) and scores are calculated by summing the item scores. The higher the total QSU score, the more intense are the participant's smoking urges.

Weekly self-reported use of cigarettes will be assessed with TLFB which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the quantity and frequency of use.

Self-reported use of tobacco will be assessed with TLFB (past 30 days), which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the quantity and frequency of use.

An iCO CO monitor will be used for the bio-verification of cigarette abstinence. Exhaled CO will be obtained using a study-issued iPad equipped with the iCO CO monitor and compatible app and the results will be shared through videos uploaded using VA-provided apps. Participants that report not smoking in the past 7 days and have CO levels \<6 parts per million (ppm) will be considered abstinent. For individuals with CO levels\> 6 ppm that report smoking cannabis who are not receiving NRT, salivary cotinine \<10 nanograms/ milliliter (ng/ml) will be used.

Salivary Cotinine levels are an established method to biochemically verify a participant's smoking status. Participants will follow instructions provided to them in plain language describing procedures to test saliva for the presence or absence of cotinine to confirm abstinence. The cotinine test has several zones (0-6). Any result of with color in Zone 0 will be considered negative for tobacco use.

Self-reported use of other substances will be assessed with TLFB (past 30 days), which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the quantity of use.

Self-reported use of medication for tobacco use disorder will be assessed with TLFB (past 30 days), which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the frequency of use.

Self-reported use of e-cigarettes will be assessed with TLFB (past 30 days), which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the quantity of use.

Self-reported use of any other tobacco products will be assessed with TLFB (past 30 days), which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the quantity of use.

Seven-day point prevalence cigarette abstinence will be defined as the percentage of participants who have reported no smoking or nicotine use on the 7 consecutive days prior to the assessment with biochemically verified cotinine levels of \< 10 nanograms/ milliliter.

Self-reported use of other substances will be assessed with TLFB (past 30 days), which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the frequency of use.

Self-reported use of medication for tobacco use disorder will be assessed with TLFB (past 30 days), which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the quantity use.

Self-reported use of e-cigarettes will be assessed with TLFB (past 30 days), which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the frequency of use.

Self-reported use of any other tobacco products will be assessed with TLFB (past 30 days), which uses a calendar with specific anchor dates to identify the frequency of use.

Spots Global Cancer Trial Database for substance use disorder