The purpose of this study was to determine if firearm safety training increased the knowledge of school-age children about gun safety. Each year more than 400 children die in the United States from unintentional firearm injuries (Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, 2000). Firearm injuries are common across all pediatric age groups. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2000).
It was predicted that children's knowledge, attitudes, and feelings about firearm safety would be impacted by the method used to teach the key firearm safety constructs. The specific aim was to test the effects of three levels of firearm safety training on school-age children's knowledge about gun safety. The hypothesis was that children who attend a firearm injury prevention program that used a scripted discussion, psychomotor exercise, and a role-playing exercise about firearm safety would have greater knowledge about firearm safety.
A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest randomized complete block design was used. Eight classes of kindergarten and first grade classes from two elementary schools were randomly assigned to one of four intervention blocks. There were 57 participants, 58% were male and the mean age was 5.89 years. Participation in this study varied by school, 45% at school A and 31% at school B participated.
A pictorial tool was used to assess kindergarten and first grade students' baseline and post intervention knowledge of firearm safety. The assigned intervention was presented to the appropriate classrooms. One month after the intervention, students were given the post-test to assess firearm safety knowledge.
Knowledge increased in all of the intervention groups F (3,53) = 6.69, p = .001. The greatest increase in knowledge occurred in the scripted discussion/psychomotor exercise group which exhibited an 81% increase in knowledge from the pre-test to the post-test. There was no change in the control group's knowledge from pre-test to post-test ( p = .3)
This study provides evidence that children do retain firearm safety training. Practical application of this intervention in all elementary schools could be accomplished with minimal training. The long-term objective of this research is to reduce the incidence of firearm injuries during childhood by teaching children how to be safe around guns.
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