The objective of this study was to investigate the role of team sex composition in team training performance and team processes in the context of a complex, psychomotor, information–processing task. With the growing number of women in the workplace, the role of, and implications for, team sex composition is an important research question because there are performance domains, such as psychomotor tasks, where replicable sex differences have been documented. We used 92 four–person teams to investigate the relationship between team sex composition, team declarative knowledge, team–efficacy, team communication, team cohesion, and team performance on a complex, psychomotor, information–processing task. The results indicate that team sex composition was significantly related to team performance and team declarative knowledge. Furthermore, team performance and team declarative knowledge showed significant mean differences across the levels of team sex composition, such that teams with a larger proportion of males had higher scores on each of the variables. As hypothesized, team communication showed an opposite effect where teams with higher proportions of females reported larger amounts of communication, but none of the team sex composition pairwise comparisons were significantly different. The posited relationship between team cohesion and team homogeneity was not supported. Finally, there was no evidence for any of the process variables moderating the relationship between team sex composition and team performance. Team sex composition may be an important variable in training situations where past sex differences have been demonstrated on the performance task of interest. The findings suggest the need to consider instructional design strategies that may mitigate the negative effects of team sex composition on team performance. Future research is needed to determine the extent to which findings from this single study generalize to other psychomotor task domains and how all–female teams will perform under similar circumstances.

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Scenario based training (SBT) allows organizations to train the competencies necessary for effective performance in an environment that replicates critical aspects of the transfer or operational setting. One of the most salient training features that can be delivered during SBT is feedback. Task feedback may be provided to trainees either during a training scenario (immediately following actions) or between training scenarios (after action review). However, little is known regarding the effects of immediate versus delayed feedback given to teams. Prior research on training individuals suggests that immediate feedback improves performance as assessed immediately after training (acquisition performance), however delayed feedback improves performance after time has passed (retention performance). Moreover, several individual training studies have found that trainee goal orientation moderates the influence of instructional features such as goal difficulty and content organization. I hypothesized that team member goal orientation would also moderate the influence of feedback timing on team performance. Three facets of goal orientation were assessed. Learning goal orientation refers to the extent to which individuals strive towards the mastery of skills for the sake of continuous improvement. Prove goal orientation refers to the extent to which individuals strive to demonstrate their own competence to others. Finally, avoid goal orientation refers to the extent to which individuals seek to avoid demonstrating their incompetence to others. Participants were 160 undergraduate psychology students assigned to 80 two-person teams. These teams were trained and tested using a simulated military task called the Forward Observer Personal Computer-based Simulator. Teams received 36 minutes of training prior to performing a skill acquisition test on day one of the experiment. One week later teams returned to perform a skill retention test. Teams were randomly assigned to receive immediate feedback during their team training scenarios or delayed feedback following each training scenario. Results indicated that the timing of feedback had no impact on acquisition performance. As predicted, however, teams that had received delayed feedback outperformed those that had received immediate feedback on the retention test. Moreover, the positive impact of delayed feedback on retention performance was greatest for teams that scored higher on a measure of state learning goal orientation on the day of their training. This interaction was mediated by the team's perception of the instrumentality of the feedback provided to them. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as, limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this research study was to identify the specific components of team training that contribute most to a team's ability to perform effectively. The analysis conducted involved examining the relationship between the Training Support System Survey (Hall, 1998) along with the Training Strategies and Training Content sub-scales, and the overall measure of team performance from Beyerlein's (1996) Perceptions of Team Performance survey. Results were mostly inconclusive, due to limitations of the research. However, a few interesting findings were found related to team training for different types of teams. In addition, this research is helpful in moving toward a better understanding of the relationship between team training and team performance and pointing toward the need for additional research in this area.

Background Failures in non-technical skills (NTS) contribute to adverse events in healthcare. Previous research has explored the assessment and training of these skills, and yet there is a lack of evidence for their impact on clinical outcomes. Gastrointestinal endoscopy is a high-pressure specialty, but to date there is little on the role of NTS in this area, or a method for their assessment. This MD project aims to measure NTS in endoscopy, explore their relationship with clinical outcomes, and identify those specific to this area of healthcare. Methods An observational study of endoscopy teams in real time, using the Oxford NOTECHS II assessment tool. Comparison of NTS performance with procedure outcomes and patient satisfaction. A qualitative interview study with staff members to establish the NTS specifically relevant to working in gastrointestinal endoscopy. Results Reliability of the Oxford NOTECHS II tool by a single rater in this environment was good. Positive relationships were found between NTS scores and polyp detection, scope withdrawal time and completion of items on a safety checklist. However, relationships with other outcomes, including patient satisfaction were weak, or inconclusive. The themes identified relating to NTS in gastrointestinal endoscopy were leadership, working together as a team, situation awareness, making decisions, the patient and communication. Conclusions Although few conclusive relationships were found between NTS performance and procedure outcomes, those positive associations found seem logical as they are likely to reflect increased care and vigilance. This may have been affected by a lack of variation in scores. The NTS relevant to this area are similar to other areas of healthcare. However, the interaction with and around the awake patient is unique to endoscopy and an important influence on the NTS that staff must possess. There is scope to develop a more specific tool for the assessment of NTS in endoscopy.

The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training program is a community partnership that provides education, understanding, interventions, relationships, and protection for responding officers, individuals in crisis and the community. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of CIT training amongst law enforcement officers in reducing stigmatizing attitudes and opinions on mental illnesses. The study uses a dependent means t-test to test the study participant’s attitudes and opinions on mental illnesses using a pre/post-test survey. A modified version of the Attitudes to Severe Mental Illness Scale was used to measure attitudes, beliefs, and opinions of mental illness. This modified version was developed based on CIT course material. The ultimate goal of this study was to gain insight within the law enforcement community as to whether or not CIT training is raising awareness on the issue of mental health. Findings from this study suggest that after participation, those in the CIT training reported lower levels of non-stigmatizing opinions and attitudes in two of the four factors being analyzed.

During childbirth, multiple providers deliver care at the bedside that requires optimal teamwork and communication to prevent patient harm. The complexity of caring for obstetrical patient demands a well-coordinated team to relay information and respond to conditions that can change quickly during childbirth. A patient safety strategy to prevent perinatal harm is Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) training. TeamSTEPPS is an evidence-based program based on crew resource management (CRM) principles developed in the aviation and military industries. This process improvement project used the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework and Kotter's change theory to implement TeamSTEPPS training after an increase in patient safety events from 2014 to 2016. A convenience sample of 200 physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, scrub techs, and patient care techs from perinatal units completed the training in a community hospital setting. The Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire administered pre- and posttraining show a statistical improvement in teamwork, communication, and situational awareness among nursing staff that correlated with a decrease in safety events. Project limitations include lack of a control group for comparison and lack of physician involvement with training. The positive social impact of TeamSTEPPS training is the decrease in maternal and newborn adverse events surrounding childbirth due to perinatal teams using CRM principles. Over the long term, TeamSTEPPs training may become the standard team training method to improve birth outcomes and support the establishment of a patient safety culture, which may be replicated in perinatal centers around the world.

The team-training literature provides favorable support for the after-action review (AAR)?s ability to improve cognitive, skill, and attitudinal outcomes in co-located and distributed environments. However, the comparative effectiveness of co-located and distributed AARs is unknown. Thus, the objective of the present study was to investigate the comparative effectiveness of co-located and distributed AARs. The present study examined the AAR?s effect on performance, declarative knowledge, team-efficacy, team voice, team cohesion, and team-level reactions. Data were obtained from 492 undergraduate students (47.66% female) assigned to 123 4-person teams who participated in a team training protocol using a 3 (type of AAR review: non-AAR versus subjective AAR versus objective AAR) x 2 (geographic dispersion: co-located and distributed training environments) x 3 (sessions) repeated measures design. The results indicate that AAR teams had significantly higher performance scores than the non-AAR teams. In addition, the AAR teams had higher perceptions of team-efficacy and higher levels of team cohesion than the non-AAR teams. With the exception of team-level reactions, there were no other significant differences between the distributed AAR and co-located AAR conditions. Similarly, there were no significant differences across any of the outcome variables between the objective and subjective AAR conditions, indicating that the type of AAR did not impact the results of the training. The findings of the present study highlight several practical and scientific implications that should be considered regarding AAR training. Primarily, regardless of the training environment or type of AAR, AAR training remains an effective intervention at increasing performance and attitudinal-based outcomes. In addition, the results suggest that the use of distributed AARs does not engender the proposed process losses that were hypothesized. Thus, the use of this training to reduce administrative costs may be a viable option for geographically dispersed organizations. Finally, practitioners should evaluate the extent to which increasing the amount of technology to allow for a more objective performance review, is providing the intended benefit to the trainees. The empirical research has consistently demonstrated that the use of objective review systems provides little to no benefit to the trainees. Future research is needed to determine the generalizability of these findings to other tasks, domains, team types, and levels of expertise.

The United States Army currently uses after action reviews (AARs) to give personnel feedback on their performance. However, due to the growing use of geographically distributed teams, the traditional AAR, with participants and a moderator in the same room, is becoming difficult; therefore, distributed AARs are becoming a necessity. However, distributed AARs have not been thoroughly researched. To determine what type of distributed AARs would best facilitate team training in distributed Army operations, feedback media platforms must be compared. This research compared three types of AARs, which are no AAR, teleconference AAR, and teleconference AAR with visual feedback, to determine if there are learning differences among these conditions. Participants completed three search missions and received feedback between missions from one of these conditions. Multiple ANOVAs were conducted to compare these conditions and trials. Results showed that overall the teleconference AAR with visual feedback improved performance the most. A baseline, or no AAR, resulted in the second highest improvement, and the teleconference condition resulted in the worst overall performance. This study has implications for distributed military training and feedback, as well as other domains that use distributed training and feedback.

This dissertation aimed to expand knowledge and practical uses of educational technology tools in high-stakes team training environments. This study depicted the real-world impacts of virtual reality (VR) technology on learning and training for the Royal New Zealand Police Academy and those training teams in high-stakes environments. Recommendations for improvement in designing these technologies and training resulted from the study. The study involving VR and the Bedford Workload Scale employed pre- and post-training to determine if using that technology produced statistical significance and improved user learning in VR tactical police training. The final study resulted in similar pre- and post-test results from participants (n = 74), indicating VR may produce realistic levels of cognitive load in virtual participants, and one statistically significant finding for participants who had previous experience using VR, suggesting that cognitive load may be higher during training for those with previous experience. The findings revealed that VR shows promise for increasing the value and efficacy of compliance training in tactical police settings and similar high-stakes team training environments.