Effects of Behavioral Skills Training on the Stimulus Control of Gun Safety Responding

Abstract

Teaching individuals a safety response when they encounter a firearm may be one way to prevent accidental injuries or death. Previous researchers have used behavioral skills training (BST) with and without in situ training to teach individuals with and without disabilities to engage in a safety response in the presence of a firearm. However, few studies have arranged BST to ensure the safety response occurred in response to a representative sample of all relevant stimulus features for which a response should be evoked. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the extent to which BST conducted in a single context established stimulus control that would evoke the safety response across a range of contexts under which young children could encounter a dangerous stimulus in a room in their house. All participants demonstrated a discriminated safety response following BST. Further, safety responses generalized across all contexts not associated with training for all participants.