An interventional study of Protective Behavioral Strategies and Goal-Setting in Alcohol Use, sponsored by University of Wyoming. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 25 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-28.
Sponsored by University of Wyoming · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care
The primary goal of this clinical trial is to examine whether the use of personalized goal setting related to protective behavioral strategies (PBS)-behavioral techniques enacted before, during, or after alcohol consumption to reduce risk and minimize harm-increases the use of personally selected PBS implementation. A secondary goal of this trial is to examine whether increasing the frequency of PBS use will lead to decreases in alcohol consumption, fewer alcohol-related negative consequences, and increased alcohol-related positive consequences. Researchers will compare a control condition, a PBS-only condition, and a PBS+Goals condition to address the aims of the study. Participants in all conditions will complete measures about current PBS use, alcohol use and consequences, and likelihood and confidence to change current alcohol and strategy use. All participants will receive brief psychoeducation on PBS. Participants in the PBS-only and PBS+Goals condition will select three PBS to use over the following two weeks, and select a strategy for remembering the PBS they chose. Participants in the PBS+Goals condition will receive psychoeducation about goal setting and identify two goals related to each PBS strategy they selected. Participants in all conditions will complete a follow-up after two weeks containing measures about PBS use, alcohol use and consequences, and likelihood and confidence to change alcohol and strategy use. Participants in the PBS-only and PBS+Goals condition will complete a measure to indicate whether they used the reminder strategy they selected at the two-week follow-up. Participants in the PBS+Goals condition will complete a measure indicating whether they believe they achieved their goals at the two-week follow-up.
701 studies on the registry are indexed under Alcohol Drinking; 133 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 300 is above the median of 122 across 607 interventional studies indexed under Alcohol Drinking.
Browse Alcohol Drinking studies →University of Wyoming is the lead sponsor of 19 studies on the registry; 6 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Participants complete measures at baseline and follow-up, and receive psychoeducation on PBS.
Participants complete measures at baseline and follow-up, receive psychoeducation about PBS, select three PBS strategies, and select a reminder strategy.
Behavioral: Protective Behavioral Strategies
Participants complete measures at baseline and follow-up, receive psychoeducation about PBS and goal-setting, select three PBS strategies, select two goals related to each PBS strategy chosen, and select a reminder strategy.
Behavioral: Goal-Setting
Participants receive psychoeducation about protective behavioral strategies and are asked to choose three strategies that they do not already engage in regularly but would be willing to start using more.
Participants receive psychoeducation about protective behavioral strategies and goal-setting. They are asked to choose three strategies that they do not already engage in regularly and identify two goals related to each strategy.
Protective Behavioral Strategy Use
Participants will be asked at baseline and follow-up to indicate the frequency they use the various PBS included in the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale - 20 (PBSS-20) across the past two weeks. Change will be examined across groups as the mean change in past-two-week frequency of PBS use at follow-up relative to baseline.
Time frame: Baseline and two-week follow-up.
Alcohol Use
Participants will be asked to complete the Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB), a measure of past-two-week alcohol use, at baseline and follow-up. Change will be examined across groups as mean change in past-two-week alcohol use at at follow-up relative to baseline.
Time frame: Baseline and two-week follow-up
Negative Alcohol-Related Consequences
Participants will be asked to report on the total number of negative alcohol-related consequences they have experienced in the past two weeks using the Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (B-YAACQ). Change will be examined across group as the mean change in number of negative alcohol-related consequences experienced across the past two weeks at follow-up relative to baseline.
Time frame: Baseline and two-week follow-up
Positive Alcohol-Related Consequences
Participants will be asked to report on the number of positive alcohol-related consequences they have experienced across the past two weeks at baseline and follow-up using the Positive Drinking Consequences Questionnaire (PDCQ). Change across groups will be examined as the mean change in number of positive alcohol-related consequences at follow-up relative to baseline.
Time frame: Baseline and two-week follow-up
Likelihood to Change
Participants will report on the likelihood of them changing their alcohol and PBS use on a scale of 1 (not likely) to 10 (very likely) on a two-item custom measure. Items include: 1. "Please rate how likely you are to make changes to your drinking behaviors, so you drink less or drink in a safer way. Please base the following answer based on how you are feeling RIGHT NOW." and 2. "Please circle how likely you are to try out new strategies to help you drink less or drink more safely. Please base the following answer based on how you are feeling RIGHT NOW." Change will be examined across groups as mean change in likelihood of changing at follow-up relative to baseline.
Time frame: Baseline and two-week follow-up
Confidence in Changing
Participants will report how confident they are in changing their alcohol and PBS use on a scale of 1 (not confident) to 10 (very confident) on a two-item custom measure. Items include: 1. "Please circle how confident you are in your ability to change your drinking, so you drink less or drink in a safer way. Please base the following answer based on how you are feeling RIGHT NOW." and 2. "Please circle how confident you are that you could use new strategies to help you drink less or drink more safely. Please base the following answer based on how you are feeling RIGHT NOW." Change will be examined across groups as mean change in confidence of changing at follow-up relative to baseline.
Time frame: Baseline and two-week-follow-up
Plan to share: No
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University of Wyoming