Training for the Unthinkable: Examining Message Characteristics on Motivations to Engage in an Active-Shooter Response Video

Campus safety is becoming an increasing concern for academic institutions due to numerous recent tragedies. To prepare students, staff, and faculty for these events, schools are beginning to use active shooter response training videos such as Run, Hide, Fight—a 5-minute video created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Framed in protection motivation theory, this study employs a 3 x 2 factorial design to test the influence of message medium (email, text, or tweet) and frame (direct or fear-based message) on students' completion of the safety training video. The findings suggest that the combination of message frame and message medium influence training completion. Additionally, the video itself led to a significant increase in participants’ self-efficacy, safety knowledge, and campus safety salience.