Phased training for high-reliability occupations: live-fire exercises for civilian firefighters

The aim of this study was to assess whether the stress reduction effects of phased training culminating in repeated exposure to a stressful scenario generalize to new scenarios.

High-reliability occupations require personnel to operate in stressful situations involving complex environments, high degrees of uncertainty and time pressure, and severe consequences for mistakes. One method of training for such environments culminates in practice in high-fidelity, highly stressful simulations. For some domains, realism necessitates large-scale, difficult-to-modify physical simulations. This necessity often results in repeated exposure to one or very few scenarios. The literature gives reason to question whether the stress reduction effects of such exposure transfer to new scenarios.

Anxiety and cognitive difficulties were measured among firefighter trainees during three live-fire drills. For each trainee, two drills involved the same scenario, and the other involved a new scenario that was structurally similar to the repeated scenario.

As predicted, anxiety and cognitive difficulties decreased across repetitions of the same scenario. However, the reduction did not generalize to a new scenario, and a nontrivial portion of the sample showed signs of negative transfer.

Repeated exposure to the same stressful scenario as the final phase of training has limited practical value for stress reduction. Methods for expanding the range of scenarios to which trainees are exposed or for increasing the value of the exposure are recommended.

The findings could help improve design of training programs for high-reliability occupations.