Detailed Description:
What is this research studying?
Firefighters depend on their situation awareness (SA) to maintain their understanding of hazards and surrounding environments during the response. Inaccurate or incomplete SA may lead to firefighters' injuries and reduced firefighting performance. Therefore, firefighters need to build and maintain SA throughout the lifecycle of an emergency response to control hazards successfully. This study aims to investigate the effect of providing firefighters with SA-oriented information in the pre and mid-response phases of an emergency in order to find out whether firefighters improve SA and performance and reduce workload.
What would I do if I participate?
In this research, you will assume the role of a firefighter by playing a high-fidelity virtual reality (VR) firefighter simulator. You will need to wear firefighter gear, carry a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), a head-mounted VR display, a nozzle connected to a hose line that provides a realistic reaction force, and a heat suit with heat generation components. Additionally, we will instruct you to connect three sensors to your chest to capture your heart rate.
First, you will receive training to carry out firefighting tasks in the simulator (around 15 minutes). After training, you will watch an instructional video explaining the mission's goals and measures that will be taken during and after the simulation. After watching the video, you will be quizzed to test your understanding of the mission. The simulation will take around 15-20 min to be completed. During the simulation, you will be asked to answer some questions about your knowledge of aspects of the situation as you perceive them at that point in time. At the end of the simulation, you will be asked to complete surveys about your perceived workload and SA. You do not need previous knowledge of SA or workload to answer such questions.
Can I quit if I become uncomfortable?
Yes, you can. Texas Tech University's Institutional Review Board has reviewed the research protocol and ensures you can quit participating in this study anytime. Also, you can skip parts of the research you are uncomfortable with. Your participation is entirely voluntary, and you will keep all the benefits of participating even if you stop.
How long will participation take?
We are asking for 60 min of your time for only one visit to our lab (including equipment setup).
What are the benefits and risks of participating in this research?
Participants will be able to advance their firefighting knowledge by running an exclusive and high-fidelity firefighter VR simulator that allows them to experience immersive and realistic fire scenarios in a safe environment. Additionally, there will be a fire in the VR scenarios, which could be traumatic for participants who are already overly sensitive, which may trigger any previous fire-related incidents that they experienced previously. However, this is not a significant source of risks since we will exclude possible subjects who pointed out any traumatic fire situation in the recruitment/screening form.
We think there may be a minor level of risk of triggering unexpected emotional/psychological reactions. If this happens, you may stop your participation immediately and leave the experiment at any time.
If issues arise, we recommend contacting your primary care physician. In addition, other resources are available for obtaining help:
• Texas Tech Health Sciences Center - Psychiatry - 806-743-2800.
Website: https://www.ttuhsc.edu/medicine/contact.aspx
• The National Helpline - 1-800-662-HELP (4357). Website: https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline
How are you protecting privacy?
Your personal information, such as name and e-mail, will not be linked to any material in reports, publications, or presentations. No one other than the researchers associated with this project will access the collected data. All related documentation will be stored in the researcher's locked cabinet and on a password-protected computer.
Considering that the POLAR heart rate sensor may not transmit data securely, to collect your heart rate, we determine a participant code (e.g., P01) instead of any personal information that could identify that the data is yours.
What will happen to my data?
Personally identifiable information from the collected data will be removed and replaced with anonymous codes. After such removal, the research data may be used for future research studies or distributed to another investigator for future research studies without additional informed consent from you or your legally authorized representative.
Will I receive compensation for my participation?
Participants in this study will receive a $30 electronic gift card. The participant will receive a separate email with the link to the e-gift card after they finish participation.
I have some questions about this study. Who can I ask?
Dr. Changwon Son, an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial, Manufacturing, & Systems Engineering at Texas Tech University, directs the study. If you have questions, call him at 806-834-5508 or email him at changwon.son@ttu.edu.
Texas Tech University also has an Institutional Review Board that protects the rights of people who participate in research. This project has been approved by the Institutional Review Board. You can contact them at 806-742-2064 or hrpp@ttu.edu.
Please feel free to ask the research staff any questions at this moment.