Protective Behavioral Strategies and Brief Alcohol Interventions
Condition: Alcohol Consumption
MeSH terms: Alcohol Drinking
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Excessive college student drinking represents an important public health problem for both the
      students themselves and those with whom they interact. The objective of this research is to
      better understand how to reduce such high-risk drinking by improving prevention and treatment
      programs, which will provide an overall public health benefit. Subjects in the study will be
      randomized to one of two brief intervention conditions or an education-only control
      condition. It is hypothesized that those in the intervention conditions will report greater
      reductions in alcohol use and alcohol-related problems than those in the control condition.
    

Detailed description: 
      The primary objective of this project is to examine factors that are associated with the
      effectiveness of intervention programs designed to reduce high-risk drinking among heavy
      drinking college students. Previous research has found similar effect sizes for different
      types of multi-component, brief interventions among college students, but little research has
      assessed the degree to which specific components of such interventions are associated with
      intervention outcomes. One common component of motivational enhancing interventions among
      college students involves providing cognitive-behavioral self-control strategies designed to
      reduce one's use of alcohol, which we term "protective behavioral strategies" (PBS). However,
      there are two important factors that limit our understanding of the effects of PBS on client
      outcomes. First, the use of these strategies in motivational enhancing programs has generally
      not been assessed in a systematic manner, due in part to the fact that until recently a
      standardized measure of such strategies did not exist. Second, researchers have yet to
      conduct studies that dismantle the specific effects associated with the PBS component on
      client outcomes. That is, studies have not tested interventions with and without assessment
      and feedback regarding a client's use of PBS. Participants in this project will be "at-risk"
      college student drinkers who will be assigned to one of three conditions: a brief
      intervention that includes a focus on PBS, a brief intervention that does not include this
      focus, and an education-only control condition. Participant will complete self-report
      measures of alcohol-related variables at baseline, 30-day, and 6-month follow-ups.
      Mixed-model analyses will be used to determine the effectiveness of the intervention
      programs, and structural equation modeling will be used to determine if increases in PBS
      result in reductions in alcohol use/alcohol-related problems.
    

Intervention name(s): Protective Behavioral Strategies; Personalized Normative Feedback; Alcohol Education
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Personalized feedback on use of protective behavioral strategies.; Personalized feedback on how one's own drinking compares to relevant norms.; Educational information about harms associated with heavy drinking.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Prevention