Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Revised Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale

Psychometrically sound measures of the use of protective behavioral strategies are only in a development stage at this point. One such measure, the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (PBSS), has shown particular promise in this area. This study aimed to build on the PBSS by (a) evaluating revisions to the measure intended to yield more reliable scores from the serious harm reduction (SHR) subscale and (b) evaluating the factor structure of the revised measure and the stability of the factor structure across White non-Hispanics and African Americans and between women and men using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. Three additional items were added to the SHR subscale, which improved its functioning. A 2-factor model best fit the data, and the factor structure of the measure was invariant across White non-Hispanic and African American men and women. Suggestions for further refinement of the measure and future research are provided