The Acquisition and Maintenance of Fire Emergency Skills: Effects of Rationale and Behavioral Practice

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Abstract
Within the context of a behavioral training strategy the relative effectiveness of two training procedures (rationale vs. no rationale) was assessed in the development and maintenance of fire emergency skills. Additionally, the impact of behavioral practice versus verbal practice across each type of rationale was examined. A total of 60 second, third-, and fourth-grade subjects were assigned randomly to one of four treatment groups. The four groups were rationale/behavioral practice, rationale/verbal practice, no-rationale/behavioral practice and no-rational/verbal practice. Within this 2×2 factorial design all subjects were taught to respond correctly in three simulated fire emergency situations. Subjects' behavioral performance was assessed prior to and immediately after training and at 2-week, 1-month, 2-month, and 3-month intervals. Significant gains in desired performance from pretest to posttest were found for all four groups. During follow-up, subjects in the rationale groups performed significantly better than did subjects in the no-rationale groups. Although no main effects were found for the verbal versus behavioral conditions, at test revealed that subjects exposed to behavioral practice performed better than did subjects exposed to verbal practice. The results are discussed with regard to the potential roles of rationale in producing persistence of responding.

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