Pilot test of an emotional education intervention component for sexual risk reduction

Abstract

Objective: Emotions are key predictors of sexual risk behavior but have been largely ignored in theory-based intervention development. The present study aims to evaluate whether the addition of an emotional education intervention component to a traditional social-cognitive safer sex intervention increases intervention efficacy, compared with both a social-cognitive only intervention and a no intervention control condition.

Methods: Young adults were randomized in small groups to receive the social-cognitive-emotional (SCE) intervention, the social-cognitive (SC) intervention, or standard of care.

Results: Analyses of data from 176 participants indicated that intervention arms reported similar increased condom use compared with the no intervention control arm at 3 months' postintervention (β = .06, p = .41, d = 0.08). However, at 6 months' postintervention, individuals in the SCE intervention arm reported increased condom use compared with both the SC intervention (β = .27, p = .04, d = 0.38) and control arms (β = .37, p < .01; d = 0.56), demonstrating preliminary evidence that the addition of an emotional education component may facilitate sustained behavior change.

Conclusions: An emotional education intervention module has the potential to facilitate sustained behavior change at delayed follow-up. Additional research is necessary to replicate findings in a larger sample and to determine the mediators of emotional education intervention efficacy.