An Interactive Web Platform to Teach Children Hunting, Shooting and Firearms Safety

March 7, 2025 updated by: David Schwebel, University of Alabama at Birmingham

ShootSafe: An Interactive Web Platform to Teach Children Hunting, Shooting and Firearms Safety

Firearms injuries present a major pediatric public health challenge, killing >800 children ages 0-15 annually and leading to lifelong disability among >1000 survivors. About ⅓ of firearms injuries to children under age 15 are due to unintentional causes rather than suicide or homicide. The investigators propose development and evaluation of ShootSafe, an innovative, engaging, and educational website accessible by smartphone, tablet or computer that engages children to learn firearms safety.

ShootSafe extends existing programs to achieve 3 primary goals: a) teach children knowledge and skills they need to hunt, shoot, and use firearms safely; b) help children learn and hone critical cognitive skills of impulse control and hypothetical thinking needed to use firearms safely; and c) alter children's perceptions about their own vulnerability and susceptibility to firearms-related injuries, the severity of those injuries, and their perceived norms about peer behavior surrounding firearms use. ShootSafe will accomplish these goals through a combination of interactive games plus podcast videos delivered by peer actors (impactful testimonials about firearms injuries/deaths they experienced) and experts (wisdom & experience from trusted role models). The website will also incorporate brief messaging to parents, who will absorb key lessons and reinforce them with their children.

The website will be evaluated through a randomized controlled trial with 162 children ages 10-12, randomly assigning children to engage in the ShootSafe website or an active control website on child nutrition. The investigators will incorporate sub-aims to evaluate changes in children's (a) knowledge, (b) cognitive skills in impulse control and hypothetical thinking, (c) perceptions about firearms safety, and (d) simulated behavior when handling, storing and transporting firearms. All outcome measures will be assessed at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and at a 4-month follow-up assessment to evaluate retention. Training will comprise two 30-minute sessions.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

163

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Alabama
      • Birmingham, Alabama, United States, 35294
        • UAB Youth Safety Lab, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

10 years to 12 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • children ages 10-12 years
  • English-speaking child and parent
  • Experience or exposure to firearms in their homes or through engagement in hunting or shooting

Exclusion Criteria:

  • disabilities that prohibit participants from valid understanding of or participation in the experimental protocol
  • siblings of enrolled child

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: firearms safety
Children will spend two 45-minute sessions engaged on ShootSafe, an internet-based training program on firearms safety.
Behavioral: firearms safety
interactive and engaging website with videos and educational games to teach children firearms, hunting and shooting safety
Active Comparator: nutrition
Children will spend two 45-minute sessions engaged in vHappy, an internet-based training program on nutrition and wellbeing.
Behavioral: nutrition
interactive and engaging website with videos and educational games to teach children about nutrition and wellbeing

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Risky Behavior in Simulated Hunting Scenario
Time Frame: 1 week after intervention completed
Number of simulated situations when it was dangerous to shoot the toy firearm and the child took shots
1 week after intervention completed
Number of Knowledge Items Answered Correctly
Time Frame: 1 week after intervention completed
firearms safety knowledge scale (10 items, minimum value 0 and maximum value 10). Higher scores indicate greater knowledge.
1 week after intervention completed

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: David Schwebel, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 14, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 10, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

May 10, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 26, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 4, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

November 10, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 7, 2025

Last Verified

March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R01CE003307 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified data will be shared with qualified parties upon request.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

after all primary analyses are conducted and published, for 3 year period

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

qualified user with appropriate training and approval

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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