Coping During Conventional Submarine Missions: Evidence of a Third Quarter Phenomenon?

The third quarter phenomenon refers to the decline in performance during the third quarter of missions in isolated, confined, and extreme environments, regardless of actual mission duration. This can be observed through changes in cognitive and interpersonal behavior, and an increase in reported negative experiences and undesirable mood states. This effect has been studied in polar and space missions, but there are no available reports on it during submarine missions. This study provides an additional analysis of previously published data that were collected during a conventional submarine patrol mission, to consider whether a stage-model of adaptation (in particular a third quarter effect) could be observed. It used data on coping—specifically the self-reported endorsement of coping activities during a submarine deployment—to achieve this. While the data could be interpreted as supporting a third quarter effect, they also reflected a general decline in individual well-being across mission duration. However, the decline was relatively small in real terms, and may not reflect meaningful changes in affect or performance. Practically, this could be useful for optimizing coping across mission duration, through enabling realistic preparation and developing mission-specific interventions

Screening Mental Well-Being in High Demand Occupational Settings in South Africa

This study considered promoting well-being of employees in high demand occupational positions, through the screening of mental well-being. The numerous challenges to such monitoring in a multi-lingual developing country like South Africa – where this study was conducted – requires a tool that can screen for the mental well-being of at-risk individuals, in order to timeously refer vulnerable persons to appropriate mental health support services. This paper explored whether the State-Trait Personality Inventory-Trait Scales (STPI-T) can be used fairly to monitor the well-being of young adult South Africans in high demand occupational settings. The self-report scales were administered to a non-clinical sample (women=392, men=521) aged 20 to 40 years, and their responses were analyzed with MANOVA and a ROC analysis. The main findings of the study indicated that contextualised norms are required (and were provided for the sample studied), develop per specific national and occupational environment; and that socio-demographic variables like gender, age, and language had limited effect on scale responses in this select sample. The scales effectively identified vulnerable individuals, comparable to psychological interviews. Scale scores were highly homogenized, facilitating identification of outliers which may indicate poorer mental health, thus enabling further referral for appropriate support. In conclusion, the study provides support for the use of the SPTI-T to promote the well-being of employees in multi-lingual high demand occupational settings, through regular monitoring and early identification of risk for poor mental health

Personality profiles of divers: integrating results across studies

Background: There are numerous reports on diver personality, spanning across five decades, across national boundaries, and using a range of measures to describe diver profiles. However, the range of reports poses challenges to interpreting new studies, particularly when having to compare findings across generations, measurements, and national/cultural contexts. This paper aimed to review and integrate diver personality descriptions, drawing on the available studies that reported trait theory based data for naval and sport divers. Materials and methods: Available studies on diver personality — associated with trait theory — were tabulated and the specific traits associated with divers described. Their findings were then integrated into a synthesised description of personality traits. Results: The results suggest remarkably stable military diver profiles across generations, measures, and navies, with some unique differences observed due to national-cultural variables. It was of particular interest that different measures of personality appeared to present related constructions of diver profiles. Navy divers share, among others, a propensity for adventurousness, a strong sense of self-agency, and low trait anxiety. Unsurprisingly, personality profiling could not be generalised across military-civilian diving contexts, and the same clear profile differentiation of navy divers was not visible among sport divers. Conclusions: Contemporary local data — in the context of military diving — could productively be compared to the body of existing reports, at least where similar theoretical models are used

Psychological profiles of resilience in extreme environments: Correlating measures of personality and coping and resilience

The presence of psychological resilience is believed to confer positive personal benefits, and may be particularly advantageous for individuals working in isolated, confined, and/or extreme environments. The study reported here aimed to identify contextually adaptive psychological profiles of resilience in such settings. This was done by correlating scores for measures of resilience with scores for measures of personality and coping, using South African Navy specialists who were identified as good adaptors. As resilience profiles may differ across contexts, two highly specific samples were used, namely navy divers and submariners. This article presents psychometric profiles of contemporary personality and coping styles. Then, using bivariate correlations, resilience-associated, context-specific, diver and submariner personality and coping profiles were identified. Their resilience profiles appeared well suited to their respective environments. Some differences were observed between the typical personality descriptions and the resilience profiles identified, with a number of possible reasons forwarded to understand this. Firstly, there were some concerns regarding the validity of the measures in the local cultural context; secondly, context-specific resilience may be expressed differently from resilience in general society; and thirdly, contemporary profiles of specialists may reflect current organisational processes in addition to psychological factors. In terms of practical application, while the identification of resilience profiles may also have value for selection purposes, it could be particularly useful for mission preparation, through the training of context-relevant coping skills

Coping in Context: Dispositional and Situational Coping of Navy Divers and Submariners

Specialists working in isolated, confined, and extreme environments may need to negotiate unique combinations of potentially stressful circumstances. This paper reports on three studies using the Brief COPE to examine some of the dispositional and situational coping strategies reported by navy divers and submariners. The first study investigated whether individual members of these specialist groups would favor similar coping response styles, and found that divers (N = 174) and submariners (N = 195) generally report similar coping styles, with some context appropriate nuances in their reports. Further, they share much of their profiles with other high-demand occupational settings, making their coping style profiles unique only in degree, rather than direction. The second study examined whether these navy specialists’ coping response styles would be stable across time, and through repeat administration of the Brief COPE (N = 237), found that they were remarkably stable over a period of almost 2 years. The third study investigated whether the same dispositional profile will be visible during specific submarine missions, or whether different, e.g., situational, coping strategies would be reported on board. Submariners appear to rely on similar coping strategies whether ashore or at sea, while also drawing on additional—and contextually appropriate—situational strategies while at sea. Thus while they rely on dispositional coping styles, they also seem responsive to changing environments during deployments. Practically, these findings could be used to assist divers and submariners to develop optimal coping strategies suited to their environments

Psychological considerations in submarine escape training: brief overview and future directions

The inability of a submarine to surface must rate as one of greatest risks to sailors in peacetime. To prepare for such emergencies, many navies provide training to master the procedures required to escape successfully from disabled submarines. This paper provides a brief overview of some of the psychological principles in simulated submarine escape training. It further discusses applicable psychological constructs such as positive outcome expectancies, the role of anxiety, and other personal factors mediating outcomes of such training. It concludes with recommendations for future research aimed at enhancing the safety and impact of submarine escape training. These include enhanced detection of psychological risk factors such as anxiety, as well as investigating the relative contribution of personality variables to in-training safety and positive outcome expectancies. These recommendations do not only apply to submarine escape training, but may also be applicable to high fidelity safety training in other off-shore survival contexts, such as helicopter underwater escape training, freefall lifeboat training and smoke diving

Spontaneous Ultra-Weak Photon Emission from Human Hands Is Time Dependent

Ultra-weak photon emission in the visible range was measured on palm and dorsal side of left and right hand by means of a low noise photomultiplier system. To study the dynamics of this photon emission in a 24 h period photon emission was recorded in 2 h intervals in 5 experiments, utilizing strict protocols for dark adaptation and recording of subjects. Fluctuations in photon emission in the course of 24 h period were demonstrated for each anatomic location. Mean photon emission over the 24 h period differed both between subjects and hand locations. To detect a pattern in the fluctuations the mean value for each location of each subject in each experiment was utilized to calculate fluctuations during the course of 24 h for each anatomical location. The fluctuations in photon emission in the course of 24 h were more at dorsal sides than palm sides. The correlation between fluctuations in palm and dorsal side was not apparent. During the 24 h period a change in left-right symmetry occurred for the dorsal side but not for the palm of the hands. Photon emission at the left dorsal location was high at night, while the right dorsal side emitted most during the day. It is concluded that a daily rhythm in photon emission can be recorded from both the dorsal and palm sides of the hands

Beer multinationals supporting Africa's development?

This paper addresses the question how partnerships include smallholders into sorghum-beer supply chains. Introduction Restrictions on the import of barley malt by the Nigerian government in the 1980s have facilitated an import substitution strategy that is now widely adopted by the African brewing industry. Barley malt is a key resource for beer brewing. Due to the Nigerian import ban, it was discovered that locally produced sorghum could serve as an adequate substitute for barley (Ogun, 1995). At present, all major brewers on the African continent partially substitute imported barley by sorghum and other locally produced crops, because they are cheaper and do not entail currency losses (Lapper, 2010; Wiggens, 2008). The African informal market of artisanal beers, wines and other drinks made from local ingredients, such as sorghum, is estimated to be four times bigger than the formal sector, and has a value of about US$ 3 billion. Heineken, Guinness and SABMiller now compete with this African home brew market (Capell, 2009). The shift to local resources serves as an incentive for the development of local supply chains that could stimulate agricultural production in Africa. However, such chains are not easily created. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the sorghum grain (Sorghum bicolor) is grown in unpredictable ‘rain-fed’ agriculture contexts, while farmers cannot afford the use of additional inputs. With 300 kg/ha the productivity of African sorghum farming is far below yields in other regions of the world that may reach 9000 kg/ha (ICRISAT, 2008). In 2001, Guinness Ghana tried to set up a sorghum supply chain in Northern Ghana, but failed completely. The company had facilitated farmers in acquiring fertilizer, agrochemicals, as well as certified seeds of a new sorghum variety Kapaala, but had to reject most of the grain one year later because of low quality (Kudadje 2006). The harsh climate and limitations in the institutional business environment hindered the African farmers to integrate into a modern value chain

‘‘Covert Coping’’ in Extreme Environments: Insights from South African Submarines

Submariners are a group of people who live and work in enclosed habitats. In this confined environment, they need to balance the emotional needs of individuals with the resources of the group, to ensure effective coping for all. This study explored the mechanisms of maintaining this balance. Observations and a self-report measure (a modified Brief COPE) were used to describe the coping of submariners during deployment. Findings from the thematic analysis and self-report instrument are briefly described. An apparent contrast between the qualitative observations and quantitative data was noted, and when closely examined reveal two mechanisms whereby submariners managed their individual psychological needs without unbalancing the psychological state of the collective group. These were, firstly, the use of humor and talking nonsense as sublimated—or covert—way of venting emotions, and secondly, the use of rituals such as mealtimes as covert opportunities to provide and receive psychological support. This study illustrates how groups living in enclosed habitats may use covert mechanisms to cope with emotional needs, in order to maintain the emotional balance in the confined environment

Diving, cannabis use, and techniques of neutralisation: exploring how divers rationalise cannabis use

Background: Diving medicine literature often regards the use of cannabis as a potential contra-indicator for fitness to dive. With that said, there has been no empirical research done with cannabis-using divers to examine how they subjectively understand and construct the risks that their cannabis use may have on their diving. This study explored how cannabis-using divers rationalise the pejorative associations of cannabis use through rhetorical techniques of neutralisation (TON) that function to deny the risks that cannabis use may have on their diving.  Materials and methods: Ten medically-fit professional divers from South Africa were individually intervie- wed. The interviews focussed on each diver’s reported recreational use of cannabis. The interviews were transcribed and analysed through a framework for TON originally formulated by Sykes and Matza (1957).  Results: Analysis revealed six primary TON employed to refute the pejorative associations of cannabis use on dive work, namely: 1. Denial of responsibility: which denies a diver’s direct culpability for their cannabis use; 2. Denial of injury: which asserts that no (serious) harm results from a diver’s cannabis use; 3. Denial of victim: which repudiates the potentially deleterious effects that cannabis use may have on a diver; 4. Condemnation of condemners: which minimises cannabis use in relation to other divers’ unsafe diving practices; 5. Appeal to loyalties: which situates cannabis use within interpersonal networks to whom a diver has a “higher” allegiance; 6. Denial of penalty: which justifies cannabis use by virtue of a perceived lack of punitive action by a Diving Medical Examiner.  Conclusions: The findings of this research highlight the TON which potentially inform a diver’s cannabis use, particularly in relation to their diving. Identifying such TON carry important implications for the ways in which fitness to dive is assessed.