Many military teams must operate in exceptionally stressful environments (e.g., battlefield) that include both physical (e.g., noise) and psychological stressors (e.g., time pressure). Often, exposure to such environments results in negative responses (e.g., subjective anxiety). To remedy these reactions, it has been suggested that repeated exposure to stress can decrease negative responses (Driskell & Johnston, 1998), allowing trainees to develop and perfect coping strategies. However, to date there has been little in the way of stress training intervention for teams. At the individual level, Stress Exposure Training (SET) has been used successfully to enhance affective responses to stress. It attempts to enhance the individual s performance by providing them with an understanding of anticipated stressors and responses (physiological and behavioral) in addition to practice under stressful conditions. With practice, trainees are able to apply their coping skills while being gradually exposed to stressors. Thus, by teaching coping strategies and allowing practice sessions, trainees are able to inhibit automatic negative responses to stress and achieve higher performance levels. This same concept may be leveraged to enhance team performance under stress. This paper proposes an extension of SET to teams (Team Exposure Stress Training (TEST)), which would be aimed at enhancing a team s ability to cope with stressors. Specifically, teams must maintain team process skills to maximize performance (Cannon-Bowers & Salas, 1998). Given this, the crux of TEST is to provide teams with knowledge on stress, define the skills and strategies needed to overcome negative effects, and practice within a stressful environment. This paper will discuss how this method can be applied to Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain (MOUT) teams.
Team Exposure Stress Training (TEST): An Approach for Reducing Stress
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