A systematic review of resilient performance in defence and security settings

A narrative systematic literature review was conducted to explore resilient performance in defence and security settings. A search strategy was employed across a total of five databases, searching published articles from 2001 onwards that assessed performance and optimal function in relation to resilience, in defence and security personnel. Following narrative synthesis, studies were assessed for quality. Thirty-two articles met inclusion criteria across a range of performance domains, including, but not limited to, course selection, marksmanship, land navigation, and simulated captivity. Some of the key findings included measures of mental toughness, confidence, and a stress-is-enhancing mindset being positively associated with performance outcomes. There was mixed evidence for the predictive value of biomarkers, although there was some support for cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) and neuropeptide-y (NPY), and vagal reactivity. Interventions to improve resilient performance were focused on mindfulness or general psychological skills, with effects generally clearer on cognitive tasks rather than direct performance outcomes in the field. In sum, no single measure, nor intervention was consistently associated with performance over a range of domains. To inform future work, findings from the present review have been used to develop a framework of resilient performance, with the aim to promote theoretically informed work

The Impact of Resilience and Grit on Inductive and Deductive Reasoning Following Exposure to Combat-Like Environments

Cognitive processes have been shown to be severely affected by exposure to combat and war. While the negative impact of war on cognitive performance is apparent through numerous soldier narratives, the scientific investigation of this phenomenon is limited. Furthermore, the moderating influence of an individual’s resilience and grit on cognitive functions following combat environments is unknown. Understanding this interaction is essential in further understanding individual cognitive performance. Because the psychological wounds inflicted by combat situations affect individuals’ mental health, studying how such environments influence cognitive processes and performance can improve the training of our soldiers. This dissertation focuses on assessing how combat-like environments influence an individual’s ability to effectively and efficiently reason, and further examines whether an individual’s grit and resilience affect deductive and inductive reasoning in stressful environments. Participants were recruited from a private US military academy. The study used a pretest-posttest mixed design to investigate possible cognitive decrements in individuals’ ability to reason following exposure to war-like environments simulated by immersive and non-immersive technologies. Dependent measures included both inductive and deductive reasoning (as measured by The Letter Sets Test and Overton’s (1990) version of the Wason Selection Task, respectively) by placing participants into the immersive or non-immersive conditions. Self-reported resilience and grit were tested for interaction effects to examine how an individual’s resilience and grit influences an individual’s ability to reason in war-like environments. These findings might give a richer understanding of the ways in which cognitive mechanisms are affected by stressful environments like combat

Training for Optimal Sports Performance and Health

In this book, the emphasis is on various training interventions. Types of exercises that can help improve performance in athletes and health in people facing poor movement diseases.Also, we have presented a variety of strength training interventions in the form of various types of research. On the other hand, we continue to monitor internal and external loads related to non-contact injuries and performance analysis

Operational leadership : Relationship with swift trust, moral stress, and adaptability

Forutsetningene for krigføring og militær ledelse har endret seg dramatisk de siste tiårene. Raske teknologiske fremskritt og et nytt geopolitisk landskap innebærer en rekke nye krav og utfordringer for militære ledere. Denne avhandlingenfokuserer på den enkelte militære leder fra et psykologisk perspektiv. Det overordnede målet med dette doktorgradsprosjektet var å gi en større forståelse av hvordan rask tillit til midlertidige grupper, moralsk stress og tilpasningsevne er relatert til operativ ledelse blant hærledere på lavere nivå. Studie 1 hadde som mål å belyse faktorer som gagner, eller ikke gagner, utviklingen av rask tillit til ledere i midlertidige militærgrupper. Totalt deltok 581 norske og svenske kadetter og offiserer og en kombinasjon av kvalitativ metode og ikke-parametrisk statistikk ble brukt. En hierarkisk modell av faktorer som bidrar til rask tillit til ledere av midlertidige grupper dukket opp. Modellen består av to kategorier på høyt nivå – individuelle kjennetegn og relasjonsrelaterte kjennetegn, som begge omfatter flere underordnede kategorier. Studie 2 hadde som mål å identifisere og få en dypere forståelse av miljø-, organisasjons- og gruppeforhold, og ledelsesrelaterte spørsmål spesielt, rapportert som viktige i alvorlig stressende situasjoner som involverer en moralsk stressor som militær- og politifolk står overfor. Studiegruppen besto av 16 militærkadetter og offiserer og 10 politifolk (alle svenske). Det ble gjennomført dybdeintervjuer og analysert ved hjelp av en fundert teoritilnærming. Den nye modellen består av et hierarkisk system av innbyrdes beslektede koder og kategorier av aspekter rapportert som viktige i alvorlig stressende situasjoner som involverer en moralsk stressor. Kategoriene var følgende (hver er underbygget av flere koder): Miljø, Organisasjon, Ledelse og Gruppe. Studie 3, til slutt, besto av en innledende kvalitativ studie (studie 3A), etterfulgt av en kvantitativ studie (studie 3B). Målet med studie 3A var å oppnå en dypere forståelse av følgende spørsmål: hva kjennetegner vellykket og mislykket militær ledelse på et lavere hierarkisk nivå, når tilpasningsevne er nødvendig for å håndtere en uventet truende hendelse under et fredsbevarende eller fredshåndhevelsesoppdrag i et miljø preget ved irregulær krigføring? Siden kvalitative studier har lav generaliserbarhet, ble de oppnådde resultatene operasjonalisert til et spørreskjema (studie 3B) for å fastslå om en kvantitativ studie ville validere resultatene eller ikke. Intervjuer ble gjennomført med 16 svenske soldater og offiserer i studie 3A, og svar innhentet fra 193 svenske soldater og offiserer i studie 3B. En prosessmodell som beskriver forhold som påvirker tilpasningsevnen når man møter en uventet hendelse ble utviklet i studie 3A. Modellen ble testet i studie 3B. Regresjonsanalyser viste høye til moderat høye justerte R²-koeffisienter. Imidlertid ga en moderasjonsanalyse et ikke-signifikant resultat og en baneanalyse resulterte i en dårlig modelltilpasning. Hovedbidragene til avhandlingen er de tre utviklede teoretiske modellene, og ved tilpasningsevne, den kvantitative testen av modellen. Person-for-situasjon-paradigmet ble brukt som rammeverk i den generelle diskusjonen av alle tre studiene. Til sammen utvider funnene den nåværende forståelsen av operativ ledelse blant militære ledere på lavere nivå.The conditions for warfare and military leadership have changed dramatically in the last few decades. Rapid technological advancements and a new geopolitical landscape imply an array of new demands and challenges for military leaders. This thesis focuses on the individual military leader from a psychological perspective. The overall aim of this thesis was to provide a greater understanding how swift trust in temporary groups, moral stress and adaptability are related to operational leadership among lower-level army leaders. Study 1 aimed to illuminate factors that benefit, or do not benefit, the development of swift trust towards leaders in temporary military groups. A total of 581 Norwegian and Swedish cadets and officers participated and a combination of qualitative clustering and non-parametric statistics was used. A hierarchical model of factors contributing to swift trust in leaders of temporary groups emerged. The model consists of two high-level categories—Individual-related characteristics and Relationship-related characteristics, both of which comprise several subordinate categories. Study 2 aimed to identify and gain a deeper understanding of environmental, organizational, and group conditions, and leadership-related issues in particular, reported as being important in severely stressful situations involving a moral stressor faced by military and police officers. The study group consisted of 16 military cadets and officers and 10 police officers (all Swedish). In-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed using a grounded theory-approach. The emerging model consists of a hierarchical system of interrelated codes and categories of aspects reported as being important in severely stressful situations involving a moral stressor. The categories were the following (each being underpinned by several codes): Environment, Organization, Leadership, and Group. Study 3, finally, consisted of an initial qualitative study (study 3A), followed by a quantitative study (study 3B). The aim of study 3A was to obtain a deeper understanding regarding the following question: what characterizes successful and unsuccessful military leadership at a lower hierarchical level, when adaptability is needed to handle an unexpected threatening event during a peacekeeping or peace enforcement mission in an environment characterized by irregular warfare? Since qualitative studies have low generalizability, the obtained results were operationalized into a questionnaire (study 3B) in order to ascertain whether a quantitative study would validate the results or not. Interviews were conducted with 16 Swedish soldiers and officers in study 3A, and responses obtained from 193 Swedish soldiers and officers in study 3B. A process model describing conditions that affect adaptability when encountering an unexpected event was developed in study 3A. The model was tested in study 3B. Regression analyses showed high to moderately high adjusted R² coefficients. However, a moderation analysis yielded a non-significant result and a path-analysis resulted in a poor model fit. The main contributions of the thesis are the three developed theoretical models, and in the case of adaptability, the quantitative test of the model. The person-by-situation paradigm was used as a framework in the general discussion of all three studies. Taken together, the findings broaden the current understanding of operational leadership among lower-level military leaders.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Tasing the Constitution: Conducted Electrical Weapons, Other Forceful Arrest Means, and the Validity of Subsequent Constitutional Rights Waivers

Conducted electrical weapons (CEWs)—the most famous and widely used of which are offered under the TASER brand—are ubiquitous tools of law enforcement, carried by the vast majority of law enforcement officers and routinely deployed. These devices subdue targets by coursing electric current through their bodies, thereby causing individuals to collapse as their muscles involuntarily contract. Yet this method of operation has raised concerns—voiced by researchers, advocates, and criminal defendants alike—that CEWs influence cognitive capacity in addition to muscle function as electric current potentially transits through the brain via the central nervous system. In the context of an arrest, this implicates criminal suspects’ ability to understand Miranda warnings given by officers and to competently waive their constitutional rights against self-incrimination and to counsel. Some have gone so far as to recommend a mandated delay between when suspects are tased and when officers may administer Miranda warnings in order to protect individuals’ rights. Intimate understandings of the law of Miranda v. Arizona and the true effects of CEWs on cognitive capacity are critical for determining the prudence of this recommendation, and have broader implications for the criminal justice system. This Article is the first to conduct a thorough survey and analysis of the law of Miranda with regard to how courts determine whether individuals’ waivers of their constitutional rights following Miranda warnings are knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. Ultimately, cognitive capacity is an important factor, but, in examining this faculty, courts generally rely most heavily on subjective indicia of mental acuity manifested at the time Miranda warnings were administered—e.g., reasoning ability, tone, bodily movements, and temperament. Objective indicia of mental acuity—i.e., those shown through empirical research to signal cognitive ability, such as age, education, intelligence, and blood alcohol content—are routinely treated as less valuable than subjective indicia, particularly when the two are in opposition. This presents a high bar for empirical research on the cognitive effects of CEWs to scale in order to meaningfully influence court determinations of the legitimacy of rights waivers. This Article is also the first to conduct a comprehensive survey and examination of the literature addressing the cognitive effects of CEWs and compare these effects to those of other forceful arrest methods. Studies reveal that, rather than having a unique effect on cognition through some interaction between electric current and the brain, CEWs actually appear to impact mental faculties through a general stress effect, which other forceful methods of arrest have as well—e.g., physical altercation, police dog attack, and pepper spray. Therefore, an exceptional rule requiring a delay in administering Miranda warnings to suspects subject to CEWs does not seem appropriate. Nevertheless, the literature does show forceful arrest methods meaningfully affecting individual mental acuity. While more research is necessary to more finely deduce the extent of these impacts, they appear to be such that courts should consider a forceful arrest close enough in time to the administration of a Miranda warning to be a negative factor in assessing defendants’ competence to waive their rights, similar to evidence indicating low intelligence or intoxication at the time of waiver

The frequency of falls in children judo training

Purpose: Falling techniques are inseparable part of youth judo training. Falling techniques are related to avoiding injuries exercises (Nauta et al., 2013). There is not good evidence about the ratio of falling during the training in children. Methods: 26 children (age 8.88±1.88) were video recorded on ten training sessions for further indirect observation and performance analysis. Results: Research protocol consisted from recording falls and falling techniques (Reguli et al., 2015) in warming up, combat games, falling techniques, throwing techniques and free fighting (randori) part of the training session. While children were taught almost exclusively forward slapping roll, backward slapping roll and sideward direct slapping fall, in other parts of training also other types of falling, as forward fall on knees, naturally occurred. Conclusions: Judo coaches should stress also on teaching unorthodox falls adding to standard judo curriculum (Koshida et al., 2014). Various falling games to teach children safe falling in different conditions should be incorporated into judo training. Further research to gain more data from groups of different age in various combat and non-combat sports is needed

Fear of crime and victimization among the elderly participating in the self-defence course

Purpose. Self-defence training could enhance seniors´ defensive skills and fitness. There is lack of evidence about fear and concerns of seniors participating in the self-defence course. Methods. 18 elderly persons (16 female, 1 male; age 66.2, SD=5.86) participated in the self-defence course lasting 8 training units (each unit 60 minutes). Standardized tool for fear of crime and victimization analysis previously used in Euro-Justis project in the Czech Republic (2011) was used in pretest and posttest. Results. We explored the highest fear of crime by participants in their residence area after dark (mean=2,77; median=3; SD=0,80), lower fear at the night in their homes (mean=2,29; median=2; SD=0,75) and in their residence area at the daytime (mean=2,00; median=2; SD=0,77) at the beginning of the course. We noticed certain decrease of fear of crime after the intervention. Participant were less afraid of crime in their residence area after dark (mean=2,38; median=2; SD=0,77), they felt lower fear of crime at the night in their homes (mean=2,00; median=2; SD=0,48) and in their residence area at the daytime (mean=1,82; median=2; SD=0,63). Conclusions. The approach to self-defence teaching for elderly should be focused not just on the motor development, but also on their emotional state, fear of crime, perception of dangerousness of diverse situations and total wellbeing. Fear of crime analysis can contribute to create tailor made structure of the self-defence course for specific groups of citizens