Research Summary: How can training improve lifeguard incident detection?
Dec 31, 2021Research on interventions has received considerably less attention than on the mechanics of how a lifeguard detects a drowning casualty. Despite the low number of studies, those conducted have shown potential benefits which operators can utilize to improve the performance of their teams.
Not all studies have confirmed the effectiveness of the strategy proposed. Studies examining the effectiveness of scanning strategies have suggested they have little to no positive effect on the lifeguard detection rate. For further context, see our article on the mechanics of how lifeguards detect drownings.
Guided Search Theory (GST)
GST is a strategy of surveillance by priority that resembles existing models of laboratory visual search (Wolfe, 2007). The theory suggests that mental maps are created based on the features of stimuli presented in a static visual search task, and items are inspected sequentially to determine whether they are the target item. This model explains many diverse visual search results. Because feature maps contain areas of activation based on salience at a local level, participants can rapidly detect salient “oddball” stimuli.
GST sees the lifeguard as an "anomaly hunter". surveying the visual space around the swimming pool and looking for disruptions to patterns of behaviour and the presence of information that is inconsistent with a lifeguard's expectation of what should occur.
If GST is an accurate representation of how the lifeguard scans, detects and intervenes in and around the swimming pool, several possible interventions may improve lifeguard performance:
- Experience of lifeguarding in the same environment improves detection rates over time. This would suggest shadow lifeguard shifts, video footage from the same environment, and accounts of site-based lifeguard experiences of rescue and recovery retold in training may improve detection rates.
- Newly inducted lifeguards at the facility would demonstrate the lowest detection rates.
- Detection rates across different session types may vary based on a lifeguard's experience of that session type.
- Differences may be observable between lifeguards with experience of lifeguarding at similar pools and sessions across other facilities and those who are new to lifeguarding.
Bodies of research outside lifeguarding, such as the work of Baron-Cohen (2009) on the diversity of systemising-empathising circuits within the brain, could be useful for explaining individual variability irrespective of lifeguard experience. Natural aptitude may be a significant factor in visual surveillance performance if learnt behaviours provide little opportunity for skill acquisition.
It may also explain how some lifeguards remain more relaxed than others when lifeguarding. Duhig wrote that when a habit emerges, "the brain stops fully participating in decision-making and can stop working as hard or divert focus to other tasks" (Duhigg, 2012, p.20). This may explain why those with systemising dispositions find it easier to lifeguard than those with an empathising disposition.
Some authors have suggested that lifeguards should be given visual training sessions to learn to scan certain patterns (Griffiths et al., 1995; Schwebel et al., 2007; Werts, 1996).
Passive Search Theory (PST)
PST is described by Smilek, Dixon, and Merikle (2006) and Smilek, Enns, Eastwood, and Merikle (2006) would instruct lifeguards to simply let the target item pop into their minds without creating artificial targets or search strategies. Passive search has been found to be more efficient (less affected by set size) than active search when searching for a difficult target such as drowning (Smilek, Dixon, et al., 2006; Smilek, Enns, et al., 2006). As one lifeguard put it: "I try to watch the whole zone and make sure there isn’t any weird stuff happening" (Lanagan-Leitzel et al., 2015).
Some studies have suggested that a prescribed scan pattern can induce perceptual blindness and that a spontaneous visual search can be more efficient than an actively guided search (Pia, 2017a; Watson, Brennan, Kingstone, & Enns, 2010; Wolfe, Alvarez, & Horowitz, 2000).
PST suggests that lifeguard detection rates are more likely to improve when distractions and harsh working environments and conditions are improved than anything that can be taught via visual search strategies. It is unclear what the effect of improvements to contextual knowledge would be under PST. One argument is to say that increased contextual knowledge would lead to a decrease in "weird stuff" and consequently poorer rates of detection in pool users showing expected drowning behaviours than those who show atypical behaviours. That would seem to contradict the prevailing view of contemporary researchers.
Mid-season lifeguard meeting
Schwebel et al. (2007) observed lifeguards for several weeks prior to intervening with a mid-season lifeguard meeting to assess the impact on detection rates. Lifeguards were exposed to a brief training session consisting of lessons designed to increase the lifeguards’ perception of susceptibility to drowning events at their pool, educate the lifeguards about the potential severity of a drowning event, and help lifeguards overcome perceived barriers to effectively scanning the swimming area (Schwebel, Lindsay, & Simpson, 2007).
Schwebel reported an improvement in the quality of lifeguard hazard detection over the remaining two weeks of the trial, although cautioned that the uplift was not likely to maintain post-intervention detection rates forever and repeated use of the technique would likely weaken its effect. If the evidence on contextual knowledge is correct, lifeguard detection rates should improve where lifeguards are provided regular information on what drowning casualties look like.
Simulated drowning audits
Role-specific scenario training has been suggested to improve detection rates (Martin, Kolomitro, and Lam, 2014). An alternative strategy, now popular in the industry, is the use of simulated drowning lifeguard audits. Audits are required to meet insurance liability requirements at thousands of swimming facilities worldwide. The audit begins when a supervisor arrives unannounced at the swimming facility and informs the lifeguard(s) on duty that a simulated drowning audit will occur (Ellis & Associates, 2000). At that point, either a life-size three-dimensional dummy (which floats on the water surface) or a two-dimensional shadow-dummy (which drops to the bottom of the water, the more typical drowning scenario) is dropped into the water.
The lifeguard(s) on duty role-played as if a true emergency was transpiring. Their performance is monitored and critiqued by supervisors (Schwebel, Jones, Holder, and Marciani, 2011).
An ‘inverted U’ relationship between the usefulness of unease versus the level of unease. Note that low levels of unease increase the risk of complacency, and excessive levels of unease coupled with the usefulness of unease can induce anxiety. There is an optimum level of unease in promoting usefulness (Fruhen, 2015).
Peer-to-peer experiential learning
Shadowing and the retelling of lifeguard experiences could be further improved by adapting it by session type. Providing supervision alongside a more experienced lifeguard may help improve joint detection rates and provide a safer environment for pool users. Adjusting shift patterns to facilitate this could be a possible intervention.
Scanning commentary
Providing a scanning commentary similar to that used by driving instructors has enabled the calibration and challenge of incorrect assumptions and beliefs about what drowning casualties look like and how to maintain concentration (Isler et al., 2009).
Feedback about scanning helped the lifeguards in the study by Schwebel, Lindsay, and Simpson (2007), suggesting that feedback may be crucial to keeping lifeguards performing optimally.
The retelling of lifeguard experiences
Reflecting on previous crises and the lessons learnt can strengthen performance in the future and support the development of resiliency (Weick, 2007). Perceptual training, where the importance of visual cues is stressed, is suggested to be more effective for lifeguards than gaze training (Vansteenkiste et al., 2021).
10:20
Research shows that “preferential processing can be modulated through attentional strategy,” which can help manage internal noise (Most et al., 2005, p. 659). According to some authors, a structured gaze strategy is elementary for lifeguards as it reduces the chance that areas are missed (Hunsucker and Davison, 2008; Schwebel, Lindsay, and Simpson, 2007).
Jeff Ellis & Associates, in a 2002 study, suggested lifeguards scan their zone within ten seconds and be able to reach a casualty within twenty seconds. Lifeguard performance should be measured in terms of head mobility as an indication of scanning activity. The approach continues to be integrated into their lifeguarding program. The group have updated the system to include “Sit, Stand, and Stroll” as a response to the five-minute scanning strategy developed by Griffiths (2008). The idea is that active and targetted scanning improves detection rates, an approach proposed by guided search theory.
Five-Minute Scanning Strategy
Griffiths (2008) developed the Five Minute Scanning Strategy, in which lifeguards must continuously scan their zone in five-min increments using a particular scanning pattern of their choice followed by a “headcount” of patrons.
Part of some lifeguard training programs includes ways to help manage distraction and stay focused, such as the “Five Minute Scanning Strategy” (Fagan and Griffiths, 2003). The Five Minute Scanning Strategy developed by Griffiths helps manage the challenges of focusing on patrons in the water. The strategy involves moving positions every five minutes, alternating between sitting, standing, and walking, to help combat boredom, fatigue, and other distractions.
Other authors/institutes suggest using a multitude of shapes and figures to scan the aquatic area (Schwebel et al., 2007), and some even developed “scan patterns” specifically to cover 100% of the typical lifeguard zone of responsibility (Hunsucker and Davison, 2008).
Triage scanning.
Some gaze strategies are rather broad and have suggested that lifeguards should divide their attention between the bottom of the pool, the surface, and the deck (Safe-Wise, 2007; StarGuard, 2012). It is unclear whether this approach leads to more effective detection rates.
Chunking.
Although chunking stimuli based on featural similarities can improve search performance (Neider and Zelinsky, 2008), it is unclear whether chunking would improve lifeguard detection of distress and drowning.
References
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Citation: Jacklin, D. 2021. How can training improve lifeguard incident detection? Water Incident Research Hub, 31 December.