Situational Awareness

Definition

"The perception of the elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning and a projection of their status in the near future." (Endsley, 1988 p. 97) AND "Knowing what is gong on around you’ or ‘having the big pictures’' (Jones, 2015, p. 98)

Key References

• Establishes importance of situtaional awareness within the decision making process and use of the SAGAT.
  • 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 
• Foundational conceptualization of situational awareness on the team-level, advises on how to measure and train situational awareness on the team level.
  • 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 
• Brief review of situational awareness as a construct and suggestions for practical implication in healthcare practice.
  • 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 
• 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.
  • 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

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).
  • Situation awareness global assessment technique (SAGAT). Proceedings of the IEEE 1988 National Aerospace and Electronics Conference. https://doi.org/10.1109/naecon.1988.195097
• Durso et al 1998 Situation Present Assessment Technique (SPAM): situational awareness elicitation technique involving asking questions during the activity.
  • Durso, F. T., Hackworth, C., Truitt, T. R., Crutchfield, J., Nikolic, D., & Manning, C. A. (1998). Situation awareness as a predictor of performance in en route air traffic controllers. Air Traffic Control Quarterly, 5, 1–20.
• 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
  • Taylor (1990) Situation Awareness Rating Technique: 7 point Likert Scale, 3 global dimensions or 10 specified dimensions, measures work load and situational awareness

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.