The "role of Rehearsal Plus" on fear reduction, acquisition, maintenance, and knowledge of fire emergency skills

Abstract

Three training procedures (Rehearsal Plus, Elaborative and Behavioral) were examined to ascertain their effectiveness in the acquisition and maintenance of fire emergency skills, fear reduction of fears associated with being in fires, and knowledge attainment. These three trained groups were compared to an untrained group. The subjects were 52 randomly assigned second- and third-grade children. They were assessed before, immediatedly following, and 3 months after training. Significant behavioral performance gains were evident at posttesting for the experimental groups but not the control. However, at follow-up, the Rehearsal Plus and the elaborative groups performance exceeded that of the Control group. Furthermore, Rehearsal Plus and Elaborative strategies led to different types of knowledge attainment. The results indicate the value of Rehearsal Plus and Elaborative strategies in enhancing acquisition and maintenance of behavioral skills and different types of knowledge attainment.