scholarly journals Decision Making Within and Outside Standard Operating Procedures: Paradoxical Use of Operational Discretion in Firefighters

2021 ◽  
pp. 001872082110418
Author(s):  
Philip C. Butler ◽  
Andy Bowers ◽  
Andrew P. Smith ◽  
Sabrina R. Cohen-Hatton ◽  
Robert C. Honey
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Standard Operating Procedures ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Video Footage ◽  
Standard Operating ◽  
Personal Resilience ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Operational Guidance

Objective To understand how firefighters’ use of rules (i.e., standard operating procedures [SOPs]) and deliberative decision making (i.e., operational discretion [OD]) interacts with acute stress. Background Current operational guidance for UK firefighters combines the provision of SOPs, for routine incidents, with the use of OD, under prescribed conditions (e.g., when there is a risk to human life). However, our understanding of the use of SOPs and OD is limited. Methods Incident commanders (ICs; n = 43) responded to simulated emergency incidents, which either licensed the use of OD or required use of a SOP. Video footage of IC behavior was used to code their response as involving a SOP or OD, while levels of acute stress were assessed using a blood-based measure and self-report. Results ICs were less likely to use OD selectively in the simulated emergency incident that licensed its use than in the one for which use of an SOP was appropriate; IC command level did not affect this pattern of results; and the incident that licensed OD resulted in more acute stress than the incident that required use of a SOP. Conclusion SOPs and OD were not used in the manner prescribed by current operational guidance in simulated emergency incidents. Application These results suggest that firefighter training in SOPs and OD should be augmented alongside personal resilience training, given the impact of stress on health and wellbeing, but also to improve the deployment of SOPs and OD under stress.

scholarly journals A Study on the Development of Training Content Scenarios for On-Site Commanders Engaged in Firefighting Activities

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-146
Author(s):  
Woo-Young Chun ◽  
Ji-Hee Lee ◽  
Hyung-Jun Kim
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Standard Operating Procedures ◽  
Training Content ◽  
Standard Operating

This study examines the development of content scenarios to facilitate the training of on-site commanders in firefighting activities. To establish the training content scenario system, the three core competencies of the on-site commanders were set as situation judgment, communication, and decision-making. A system of scenarios was established to actively reflect these three core competencies when designing the scenarios. All the contents of these scenarios are based on Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). The scenarios comprise 14 stages that are divided into four steps with the exception of stages 1 and 14, which mark the beginning and end of the training. It consists of the situation setting stage and the first, second, and third decision-making stages. Specifically, situation judgment and communication are important factors in each stage.

scholarly journals The impact of threat of shock on the framing effect and temporal discounting: executive functions unperturbed by acute stress?

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver J Robinson ◽  
Rebecca L Bond ◽  
Jonathan P Roiser
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Bayes Factor ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Subjective Effects ◽  
Temporal Discounting ◽  
Framing Effect ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Executive Decision Making ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Decision Making Biases

Anxiety and stress-related disorders constitute a large global health burden, but are still poorly understood. Prior work has demonstrated clear impacts of stress upon basic cognitive function: biasing attention towards unexpected and potentially threatening information and instantiating a negative affective bias. However, the impact that these changes have on higher-order, executive, decision-making processes is unclear. In this study we examined the impact of a translational within-subjects stress induction (threat of unpredictable shock) on two well-established executive decision-making biases: the framing effect (N=83), and temporal discounting (N=36). In both studies, we demonstrate a) clear subjective effects of stress, and b) clear executive decision-making biases but c) no impact of stress on these decision-making biases. Indeed, Bayes factor analyses confirmed substantial preference for decision-making models that did not include stress. We posit that while stress may induce subjective mood change and alter low-level perceptual and action processes (Robinson et al., 2013b) , some higher-level executive processes remain unperturbed by these impacts. As such, although stress can induce a transient affective biases and altered mood, these need not result in poor financial decision-making.

scholarly journals THE IDENTIFICATION OF EMOTIONS AND JURY DECISION MAKING

2021 ◽  
pp. 612-628
Author(s):  
T. Birch ◽  
I. Birch ◽  
M. James
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Jury Decision Making ◽  
Mock Jurors ◽  
Video Footage ◽  
Jury Decision ◽  
The Impact

This study investigated the impact of a defendant’s emotions, expressed through gait and displayed through video footage, on jury decision making. The degree of state empathy and the case-related judgements of the mock jurors were assessed using a questionnaire. The results of the study suggest that the emotions being portrayed by a figure in a piece of video footage can be identified by viewers, and that careful consideration needs to be given to the potential ramifications of playing video footage in court and the subsequent impact on collective jury decision making.

Effect of acute stress on auditory processing: a systematic review of human studies

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Jafari ◽  
Bryan E. Kolb ◽  
Majid H. Mohajerani
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Chronic Stress ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Future ◽  
High Possibility

AbstractStress is an integral part of modern life. Although there is a large body of literature regarding the harmful effects of chronic stress on different aspects of human life, acute stress is the most common form of stress, resulting from the demands and pressures of the recent past and the anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. In spite of its pervasive nature, less attention has been paid to the impact of acute stress on sensory processing than to the consequences of chronic stress, particularly concerning auditory processing. In this systematic review, the impact of experimental acute stress on the auditory processing of healthy adults was investigated. The results revealed the adverse effects of acute physical and psychological stresses on auditory processing. According to the open field of research on stress and the auditory system and the high possibility of experiencing different types of acute stresses in various life environments, including testing places, it seems that more investigations are needed to identify and manage different types of acute stresses in both clinical and research situations.

scholarly journals The Role of Implicit and Explicit Staff Attitudes in the Use of Coercive Measures in Psychiatry

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika Vandamme ◽  
Alexandre Wullschleger ◽  
Amelie Garbe ◽  
Celline Cole ◽  
Andreas Heinz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Professional Experience ◽  
Staff Attitudes ◽  
Coercive Measures ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Implicit And Explicit ◽  
The Impact

Many determinants leading to the use of different coercive measures in psychiatry have been widely studied and it seems that staff attitudes play a crucial role when it comes to the decision-making process about using coercion. However, research results about staff attitudes and their role in the use of coercive measures are inconsistent. This might be due to a focus on self-report studies asking for explicit answers, which involves the risk of bias. This study aimed to expand research on this topic by examining the impact of explicit and implicit staff attitudes on the use of coercive measures in clinical practice. In addition, the influence of gender, profession (nurses, psychiatrists), and years of professional experience as well as their influence on staff attitudes were examined. An adaption of the implicit association measure, the Go/No-Go Association Task (GNAT), with the target category coercion and distracter stimuli describing work load, as well as the explicit questionnaire Staff Attitudes to Coercion Scale (SACS) was completed by staff (N = 149) on 13 acute psychiatric units in 6 hospitals. Data on coercive measures as well as the total number of treated cases for each unit was collected. Results showed that there was no association between staff's implicit and explicit attitudes toward coercion, and neither measure was correlated with the local frequency of coercive measures. ANOVAs showed a significant difference of the GNAT result for the factor gender (F = 9.32, p = 0.003), demonstrating a higher tendency to justify coercion among female staff members (M = −0.23, SD = ±0.35) compared to their male colleagues (M = −0.41, SD = ±0.31). For the SACS, a significant difference was found for the factor profession (F = 7.58, p = 0.007), with nurses (M = 2.79, SD = ±1.40) showing a more positive attitude to the use of coercion than psychiatrists (M = 2.15, SD = ±1.11). No significant associations were found regarding the extent of professional experience. Results indicate a complex interaction between implicit and explicit decision-making processes dependent on specific contexts. We propose future research to include primers for more context-related outcomes. Furthermore, differences in gender suggest a need to direct attention toward occupational safety and possible feelings of anxiety in the workplace, especially for female staff members.

scholarly journals Now or Later? Stress-Induced Increase and Decrease in Choice Impulsivity Are Both Associated with Elevated Affective and Endocrine Responses

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1148
Author(s):  
Lisa Simon ◽  
Talita Jiryis ◽  
Roee Admon
Keyword(s):  
Acute Stress ◽  
Negative Mood ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Psychological Responses ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Impulsive Behavior ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Cortisol Release ◽  
The Impact

Exposure to acute stress elicit physiological and psychological responses that can impact decision-making, often expressed as an increased tendency to act in an impulsive manner following stress. Delay discounting (DD) task has emerged as a reliable measure of impulsive behavior in the form of choice impulsivity (CI). Interestingly, studies that examined the effect of acute stress on DD performance reported mixed results. To address this, we conducted a within-subject examination of the impact of acute stress on CI, focusing on individual differences in response patterns. One hundred and fifty healthy female participants completed the DD task twice, before and after undergoing an acute laboratory stress induction procedure. Saliva samples and self-report mood and affect measures were collected at four time points throughout the session. Fifty-nine matched healthy control participants completed only the DD task twice, with no stress in between. Results indicate that the acute stress procedure elicited the expected effects of increased cortisol release and increased negative mood and affect, at the group level. With respect to DD, stress indeed increased CI at the group level, yet participants differed in the magnitude and direction of this effect. Interestingly, regression analysis revealed quadratic relations between stress-induced changes in CI and cortisol release. Indeed, dividing the sample into three sub-groups based on the impact of stress on CI revealed that, compared to participants that exhibited no substantial change in their CI following stress, participants that exhibited either stress-induced increase or decrease in their CI also exhibited more stress-induced cortisol release, as well as more negative affect. Taken together, these findings suggest that elevated physiological and psychological responses to stress are associated with either increased or decreased choice impulsivity, thus depicting quadratic relations between stress and impulsivity.

The U.S. Department of Defense and Its Torture Program

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-213
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Grimm Arsenault ◽  
Catherine Chiang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Department Of Defense ◽  
Standard Operating Procedures ◽  
Organizational Decision Making ◽  
Structural Environment ◽  
Standard Operating ◽  
Study Process ◽  
The U.S

How did the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) develop its torture program and, in so doing, stray so significantly from its existing standard operating procedures (SOPs) around humane prisoner treatment? This model of organizational decision-making examines both the ambiguous structural environment that interrogators faced after 9/11 and the ways in which actors used their agency to challenge the procedures and rules that had governed DoD decision-making and actions for more than six decades. By building off the work on organizational theorizing pioneered by Graham Allison and James March, this study process traces the ways in which the DoD’s institutional procedures protecting detainees were developed, challenged, and then ultimately reaffirmed. This research helps organizations ultimately understand the power—and the weaknesses—of their SOPs.

scholarly journals Measuring Stress in Young Children Using Hair Cortisol: The State of the Science

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 499-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randi Bates ◽  
Pamela Salsberry ◽  
Jodi Ford
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Hpa Axis ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Hair Cortisol ◽  
The Impact

Extensive literature suggests that adverse experiences in early childhood may deleteriously impact later health. These effects are thought to be related to the impact of persistent or chronic stress on various biological processes, mediated by dysregulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, and ultimately irregularities in cortisol levels. Ameliorating persistent stress in young children requires accurately measuring the chronicity of physiologic stress, which is difficult in young children because of unreliable self-report and the burden and inaccuracy associated with using invasive acute-stress biomeasures. A better way to approximate persistent stress in young children is measuring hair cortisol concentration (HCC), as it only requires one noninvasive collection to measure months of HPA-axis activity or experienced stress. However, few studies measure HCC in young children despite wide use in adult stress research. This article reviews and synthesizes research that uses HCC to approximate persistent stress in healthy children, 12–60 months of age. Reviewed studies indicate that HCC is elevated in young children who are experiencing forms of persistent stress such as low socioeconomic status and maternal distress. Hair cortisol is thus a promising measure of early childhood persistent stress, but due to the limited use of HCC in this population, much research is still needed. Specifically, nurse researchers may need to measure several factors associated with early childhood persistent stress and HCC to identify which children are at risk for stress-related disease.

Design of a Decision Support Application to Support Individuals in Mental Health Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 214-217
Author(s):  
Amanda J. Johnson ◽  
Ann M. Bisantz ◽  
Amy L. Reynolds ◽  
Scott T. Meier
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Mental Health Crisis ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Safety Systems ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
The Impact

Mental health and suicide are two substantial issues facing our society. They have far reaching impacts on the healthcare and public safety systems, the economy, and human life. Despite their impact and importance, the amount of research is disproportionate to the magnitude of the problem. The current study sought to determine decision requirements of those in mental health crisis and to translate them into a user-friendly mobile application. Individuals who had been in mental health crises and mental health professionals were interviewed. Results showed that both the availability of resources and the impact of anxiety and overwhelm on decision making are areas in which individuals in crisis can be better supported. Outcome of research included design of a prototype mobile application designed to support decision making during mental health crisis.

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