Examining the Efficacy of a Brief Group Protective Behavioral Strategies Skills Training Intervention with First-Year College Women

Introduction. College students’ use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS; e.g., determining not to exceed a set number of drinks, avoiding drinking games, drinking only with close friends) is related to lower levels of alcohol consumption and problems. Although PBS skills training used in multi-component brief motivational interventions appears to play an important role in reducing risky drinking among college students, two recent studies did not find individual standalone PBS interventions to be effective in reducing negative alcohol-related outcomes. Still, it is not clear whether providing PBS training alone (i.e., not as part of a multi-component intervention) is sufficient to reduce alcohol risk. The present study evaluated the efficacy of a novel brief, single-session group PBS-skills training intervention aimed at increasing college students’ use of PBS and reducing risky drinking and consequences. Methods. Participants (N = 226) were heavy drinking incoming first-year college women randomized to either a PBS skills training intervention or study skills control condition. Participants attended one 45-minute group meeting and completed online surveys pre- and post-intervention (1- and 6-month). A series of 2 × 2 × 3 repeated-measures ANCOVAs with condition and baseline mental health (anxiety/depression) as the between subjects factors and time as the within subjects factor were conducted. Multiple regression models were implemented to examine whether changes in PBS use mediated intervention efficacy. Results. Even after controlling for baseline drinking, intervention participants, relative to control, reported significantly greater increases in PBS use and reductions in both heavy episodic drinking (i.e., consuming four or more drinks on a drinking occasion) and alcohol consequences. The intervention was particularly effective in increasing PBS use at 1-month among participants with high (versus low) anxiety. Changes in PBS use mediated the efficacy of the intervention in reducing alcohol consequences at 1-month follow up. Conclusions. Findings provide preliminary support for a brief PBS-specific group intervention to reduce alcohol risk among female college students. Future research should examine whether additional intervention components, such PBS boosters or other components taken from multi component interventions (e.g., normative feedback, expectancy challenge, BAC information), would help increase intervention efficacy over the longer term. Further, more research is needed to identify the role of mental health as it relates to PBS utilization and skills training interventions.