Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Identification of Choking Hazards to Substitute Caregivers

Abstract

Choking is a leading cause of mortality in children. Over half of choking injuries occur due to food, and the remaining injuries involve common household objects. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate Behavioral Skills Training (BST) to teach choking hazard identification and correction to substitute caregivers. Method: This study evaluated the efficacy of using BST to teach nonedible choking hazard identification (Phase 1) and edible choking hazard identification and correction (Phase 2) to substitute caregivers following guidelines from the Home Accident Prevention Inventory-Revised Protocol. Results: The results found that all participants significantly improved their hazard identification and correction following BST in both phases. Generalization probes were high in baseline for all participants across phases; however, all participants scored 100% correct on the final generalization probes. Discussion: Implications for practice and future research considerations for choking prevention training are discussed.