Skip to main content
Department of Psychiatry Department of Psychiatry
  1. HOME
  2. Research
  3. Programs, Centers & Labs
  4. IN STEP Center
  5. Tools and Resources
  6. Definitions of Team Constructs
  7. Emergent States
  8. Cognitive Emergent States
  9. Situational Awareness

Situational Awareness

Definition

“The ability of people to develop an internal representation of the current state of the environment and to project likely futurestates of the environment.” (Jones, & Endlsey, 2004, p. 343)

Key References

  • Endsley, M. R. (1988). Design and Evaluation for Situation Awareness Enhancement. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting, 32(2), 97 - 101. https://doi.org/10.1177/154193128803200221 
    • Establishes importance of situtaional awareness within the decision making process and use of the SAGAT.
  • Salas, E., Prince, C., Baker, D., & Shrestha, L. (1995). Situation Awareness in Team Performance: Implications for Measurement and Training. Human Factors, 37(1), 123–136. https://doi.org/10.1518/001872095779049525 
    • Foundational conceptualization of situational awareness on the team-level, advises on how to measure and train situational awareness on the team level.
  • Brennan, P., Holden, C., Shaw, G. R., Morris, S. T., & Oeppen, R. (2020). Leading article: What can we do to improve individual and team situational awareness to benefit patient safety? British Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, 58(4), 404–408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjoms.2020.01.030 
    • Brief review of situational awareness as a construct and suggestions for practical implication in healthcare practice.
  • Endsley, M. R. (2021). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Direct Objective Measures of Situation Awareness: A Comparison of SAGAT and SPAM. Human Factors, 63(1), 124–150. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018720819875376
    • Meta-analysis on the use of SAGAT and SPAM measures on the indivdiual and team level, report the most common meaasurement practices and argued for the use of SAGAT in team settings.

Key Measurements 

  • Endsley, 1988, Situational Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT): experimental technique involving various flight simulations which are paused at random moments to extract participant's immediate awareness of situation in and out of the aircraft, Endsley, M. R. (2003).
  • Durso et al, 1998, Situation Present Assessment Technique (SPAM): situational awareness elicitation technique involving asking questions during the activity.
    • Durso, et al.,(1998). Situation awareness as a predictor of performance in en route air traffic controllers. Air Traffic Control Quarterly, 5, 1–20.
  • Taylor (1990) Situation Awareness Rating Technique: 7 point Likert Scale, 3 global dimensions or 10 specified dimensions, measures work load and situational awareness
    • Taylor RM. Situation Awareness Rating Technique (SART): The development of a tool for
      aircrew systems design. In: Situational Awareness in Aerospace Operations. France:
      Neuilly sur-Seine, NATO AGARD; 1990:3/1 - 3/17. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315087924

Recent Articles

  • Franke, U., & Brynielsson, J. (2014). Cyber Situational Awareness – A systematic review of the literature. Computers & Security, 46, 18–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2014.06.008
    • Systematic review of scientific literature regarding cyber situational awareness.
  • Seppänen, H., Mäkelä, J., Luokkala, P., & Virrantaus, K. (2013). Developing shared situational awareness for emergency management. Safety Science, 55, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2012.12.009
    • Identifies the factors that impact the formation of shared situation awareness in search and rescue operations.
  • Fore, A. M., & Sculli, G. L. (2013). A concept analysis of situational awareness in nursing. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 69(12), 2613–2621. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12130
    • Studies situational awareness systematically as a concept in the nursing field.