Teaching Firearm Safety to Children: Failure of a Program

Hardy, Marjorie S.

doi:10.1097/00004703-200204000-00002

Cited by 64 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Although researchers have attempted to promote safe storage practices by gun owning parents, many parents continue to store their firearms unsafely (loaded and unlocked; Azrael, Miller, & Hemenway, 2000;Grossman, Reay, & Baker, 1999). In addition, Hardy (2002), Hardy, Armstrong, Martin, and Strawn (1996), and Jackman, Simon, Farah, and Kellerman (2001) have shown that when children find firearms, they are likely to play with them. Furthermore, Eber, Annest, Mercy, and Ryan (2004) reported that playing with firearms found in the home resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries to children in the years 1993 to 2001.…”

Section: Behavioral Skills Training (Bst)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching Safety Skills to Children: Prevention of Firearm Injury as an Exemplar of Best Practice in Assessment, Training, and Generalization of Safety Skills

Miltenberger

2008

Behav Analysis Practice

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Section: Behavioral Skills Training (Bst)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching Safety Skills to Children: Prevention of Firearm Injury as an Exemplar of Best Practice in Assessment, Training, and Generalization of Safety Skills

Miltenberger

2008

Behav Analysis Practice

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“…30 In stark contrast to parental expectations, controlled investigations have demon-strated that most children will readily handle a firearm, given the opportunity, regardless of how much previous gun-safety education they have received. [31][32][33] Likewise, previous gun-safety training for adults does not seem to have a positive correlation with likelihood of safe storage of firearms: a study of gun owners in 1 rural midwestern area found that respondents who had taken a firearmsafety course were twice as likely to keep guns loaded and unlocked as those who had not received such education. 24 Given the prevalence of firearms in American homes with children and the dangers of giving children ready access to firearms, understanding the factors that influence storage decisions is a critical part of preventing pediatric firearm injuries.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Association Between Presence of Children in the Home and Firearm-Ownership and -Storage Practices

Connor

2005

Pediatrics

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ABSTRACT. Objective. American children's ready access to firearms contributes to high rates of firearmrelated injuries. Understanding the factors that influence storage decisions is critical for prevention. This study examined the influence of geography and presence of children <16 years old in the home on firearm-ownership and storage decisions of northeast-Ohio residents.Methods. Analysis was based on 522 responses to randomized telephone surveys of urban and rural households in northeast Ohio. Relationships between 4 dependent variables (firearm ownership, type of firearm owned, reasons for owning, and storage) and 2 independent variables (geography and presence of children in the home) were evaluated using odds ratios and multinomial logistic regression.Results. Firearms were significantly more common in rural (31%) than in urban (13%) households. Twenty-two percent of gun owners reported securing all firearms with trigger locks or storing them in locked safes, drawers, or gun cabinets; 12% reported storing guns unlocked and either loaded or together with ammunition. Most gun owners (66%) reported storing all firearms unlocked, unloaded, and separate from ammunition. Rural respondents without children were approximately twice as likely as those with children to have handguns, but children did not influence long-gun ownership. In the urban group, the presence of children was not related to likelihood of firearm ownership. Having children in the home was not significantly associated with higher rates of safe storage for either group.Discussion. These results illustrate the inadequacy of 1-size-fits-all interventions and highlight the need to better understand gun owners' reasoning about children and guns to design and implement successful interventions. Physicians and others interested in reducing pediatric exposure to firearms cannot be credible messengers on gun-safety topics if they cannot demonstrate an understanding of the issues from the perspective of patients and their families. Pediatrics 2005;115:e38-e43. URL: www.pediatrics.org/cgi

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“…9 However, few safety skills programs have been developed to teach children not to play with guns if they find them in the home or elsewhere. [10][11][12][13][14] Of these programs, the Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program, developed by the National Rifle Association, is the most recognized and implemented. The National Rifle Association estimates that the Eddie Eagle program has educated 15 million children since 1988, with an estimated 700 000 children receiving Eddie Eagle firearm injury prevention training each year.…”

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confidence: 99%

Comparison of Two Programs to Teach Firearm Injury Prevention Skills to 6- and 7-Year-Old Children

et al. 2004

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ABSTRACT. Background. Each year, hundreds of children unintentionally kill or injure other children while playing with firearms in the United States. Although the numbers of these deaths and injuries are distressing, few prevention programs have been developed to prevent gun play among children.Objective. This study compared the efficacy of 2 programs designed to prevent gun play among young children.Design. A posttest-only, control group design with 2 treatment groups was used. Children were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatment groups or a control group. For all children who did not exhibit the skills after training, 1 in situ (ie, real-life situation) training session was conducted.Setting. Participant recruitment, training sessions, and assessments were all conducted in the children's after-school program facility.Participants. Forty-five children, 6 or 7 years of age, were recruited for participation.Interventions. The efficacy of the Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program, developed by the National Rifle Association, and a behavioral skills training program that emphasized the use of instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback was evaluated.Main Outcome Measures. The criterion firearm safety behaviors included both motor and verbal responses, which were assessed in a naturalistic setting and then assigned a numerical value based on a scale of 0 to 3.Results. Both programs were effective for teaching children to verbalize the safety skills message (don't touch the gun, get away, and tell an adult). However, children who received behavioral skills training were significantly more likely to demonstrate the desired safety skills in role-playing assessments and in situ assessments than were children who received Eddie Eagle program training. In addition, in situ training was found to be effective for teaching the desired safety skills for both groups of children.Conclusions. Injury prevention programs using education-based learning materials are less effective for teaching children the desired safety skills, compared with programs incorporating active learning approaches (eg, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback). The efficacy of both types of injury prevention programs for teaching the desired skills could be significantly enhanced with the use of in situ training. This program, when implemented with 6-and 7-year-old children, was effective in teaching the desired safety skills. Pediatrics 2004; 114:e294 -e299. URL: http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/ content/full/114/3/e294; gun safety, gun play, Eddie Eagle, behavioral skills training, in situ training, injury prevention, children.ABBREVIATION. BST, behavioral skills training.

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Teaching Firearm Safety to Children: Failure of a Program

Cited by 64 publications

References 8 publications

Teaching Safety Skills to Children: Prevention of Firearm Injury as an Exemplar of Best Practice in Assessment, Training, and Generalization of Safety Skills

Teaching Safety Skills to Children: Prevention of Firearm Injury as an Exemplar of Best Practice in Assessment, Training, and Generalization of Safety Skills

The Association Between Presence of Children in the Home and Firearm-Ownership and -Storage Practices

Comparison of Two Programs to Teach Firearm Injury Prevention Skills to 6- and 7-Year-Old Children

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