VA sleeping-pill risk mailing with CBT-I offer (pilot)
Pilot that mailed older veterans on sedative-hypnotics a brochure on risks, adding information about a free online CBT-I programme and, in one arm, a phone reinforcement call.
- Years
- 2022–now
- Country
- United States
- Topic
- Low value carePatient safetySleep
- Asks people to
- StopSubstitute
- Strategy
- Service link
- Channel
- Direct mail
- Audience
- Military and veteransOlder adultsveterans 65+ on benzodiazepines or Z-drugs
Evidence
ExperimentalNo effect
Pilot RCT, 2,009 veterans: adding the CBT-I offer or a call did not change prescriptions at 6 or 12 months vs a risk-only brochure. Follow-up calls found many did not recall the brochure and faced digital access barriers.
Sponsor (who paid)
- US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA Greater Los Angeles / Colorado and Montana VA) Federal government
Credits (who made it)
Not recorded yet.
Sources
- Pilot RCT Testing A Mailing About Sleeping Pills and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia: Impact on Benzodiazepines and Z-Drugs evaluation · 2022 · DOI 10.1080/07317115.2022.2130849 · PMID 36200403
- Eliciting participant perspectives about a mailed brochure on sleeping pills and CBT-I evaluation · 2026 · DOI 10.1093/ijpp/riag120 · PMID 42680147
Research notes
Created 2026-10-23 from the sleep campaign literature search (PubMed and web search; OpenAlex was unreachable), see docs/sleep-campaigns-literature.md. Findings are paraphrased from abstracts, not full texts; official URLs come from search results and were not opened. VA site wording partly inferred (abstract names Colorado and Montana VA pharmacies). startYear 2022 is the earliest dated source found, not a confirmed launch year.
Record cases/va-sleeping-pill-mailing.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign