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Inadequate sleep is an on-going risk to the health and mission readiness of U.S. Armed Forces, with estimates of sleep problems high above U.S. civilian populations. Intervening early in the career of active duty Air Force personnel (or "Airmen") with education and the establishment of healthy behaviors may prevent short and long term-detriments of sleep problems. This paper describes the results of a qualitative study seeking to understand the facilitators and barriers to achieving good sleep in a technical training school during the first year of entry into the United States Air Force. Using the social ecological framework and content analysis, three focus groups with Airmen were conducted to explore themes at the individual, social, environmental, and organizational/policy level. Overall, results indicated a cohort motivated to achieve good sleep, and also struggling with a number of barriers across each level. This paper highlights opportunities for population health interventions during technical training aimed at supporting Airmen in developing healthy sleep behaviors early in the course of their career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. service members are at an enhanced risk for developing mental disorders. To address these challenges, while promoting operational readiness and improving mental health outcomes, the Department of Defense directed each service component to develop and implement universal resilience enhancing programs. This paper provides a review of theoretical approaches conceptualizing resilience to trauma, including the theoretical foundations of programs currently in place. The resilience programs of U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps are described, and available program effectiveness data are reviewed. Gaps between theory and practice are identified and an alternative method of assessing psychological readiness in Army units that is informed by resilience theory is offered as one way to address these gaps and scientific concerns. By comprehensively assessing the stressors affecting Soldiers at regular intervals, military leaders may be able to better identify and mitigate stressors in a systematic way that bolsters individual and unit psychological fitness. An enhanced psychological readiness metric stands to strengthen the validity of current resilience programs, bring clarity to the mechanisms of resilience, and provide a novel way for leaders to promote readiness in their units. Application of this metric within the infrastructure of existing reporting systems stands to improve mental health outcomes for Service Members, enhance the psychological readiness of the force, and reduce healthcare costs over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly complex and unpredictable personnel and operational demands require Special Operations Forces (SOF) members and their families to remain flexible, adaptive, and resilient within ever-changing circumstances. To mitigate the impact of these stressors on psychological health and fitness, researchers and educators at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) developed Special Operations Cognitive Agility Training (SOCAT), a cognitive performance optimization program supported by the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Preservation of the Force and Family (POTFF). The goal of SOCAT is to enhance cognitive agility, defined as the ability to deliberately adapt cognitive processing strategies in accordance with dynamic shifts in situational and environmental demands, in order to facilitate decision making and adapt to change. Overall, SOCAT emphasizes optimal cognitive performance across different contexts – as well as across various stages of the military lifecycle – to serve as a buffer against biopsychosocial vulnerabilities, environmental and social stressors, military operational demands, and behavioral health problems, including suicide. This paper reviews foundational research behind SOCAT, mechanisms through which SOCAT is anticipated to build psychological resilience, and describes the process of developing and tailoring SOCAT for active duty SOF members and spouses. Limitations and future directions, including an ongoing, randomized controlled program evaluation, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aptitude requirements for US Air Force officer commissioning include completion of a college degree and minimum scores on the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT) Verbal and Quantitative composites. Although the AFOQT has demonstrated predictive validity for officer training, the Air Force has striven to improve predictive validity and diversity. To this end, a Situational judgment Test (SJT) was added to the AFOQT in 2015. SJT development was consistent with recommendations to broaden the competencies assessed by the AFOQT with the goal of providing incremental validity, while reducing adverse impact for historically underrepresented groups. To ensure content validity and realism, SJT development was based on competencies identified in a large-scale analysis of officership and input from junior officers in scenario and response generation and scoring. Psychometric evaluations have affirmed its potential benefits for inclusion on the AFOQT. An initial study showed the SJT to be perceived as highly face valid regardless of whether it was presented as a paper-and-pencil test (with narrative or scripted scenarios) or in a video-based format. Preliminary studies demonstrated criterion-related validity within small USAF samples, and a larger Army cadet sample. Additionally, operational administration of the SJT since 2015 has demonstrated its potential for improving diversity (i.e., reduced adverse impact relative to the AFOQT Verbal and Quantitative composites). Predictive validation studies with larger Air Force officer accession samples are ongoing to assess the incremental validity of the SJT beyond current AFOQT composites for predicting important outcomes across accession sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each year significant tax dollars are spent on the development of new technologies to increase efficiency and/or reduce costs of military training. However, there are currently no validated methods or measures to quantify the return on investment for adopting these new technologies for military training. Estimating the return on investment (ROI) for training technology adoption involves 1) developing a methodology or framework, 2) validating measures and methods, and 3) assessing predictive validity. The current paper describes a projective methodology using the Kirkpatrick framework to compare projected tangible and intangible benefits against tangible and intangible costs to estimate future ROI. The use-case involved an advanced technology demonstration in which sixty aircrew participated in a series of live, virtual, and constructive (LVC) exercises over a five-week period. Participants evaluated the technology's potential costs and benefits according to the Kirkpatrick framework of training program evaluation, and analyses resulted in a nominal projection of $488 million dollars saved, significant enhancements in large-force proficiency, and 1.4 lives saved over ten years at an implementation rate of 0.5% of budgeted flight hours. A discussion of theoretical implications, data-based limitations, and recommendations for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]