Interservices Simulation for Response to Mass Casualty Events in Virtual Reality – SIREN-VR

The SIREN-VR project focuses on the co-development of a crisis management training program for security forces (firefighters, police) and public health services (SAMU, hospitals), in collaboration with academic, economic, and nonprofit actors. The goal is to organize an interservices training program using virtual reality simulation. Data on participants' experiences and feelings will be collected to understand moments that may have posed challenges or facilitated learning. Learning will be assessed through a pre-test/post-test protocol, using the national competency framework for firefighters, specifically addressing points from the NOVI plan. Data collection is mixed and hybrid. We will gather qualitative data through post-activity verbal reports during debriefing sessions, as well as subjective data via questionnaires on experiences (cognitive load, satisfaction, situated motivation: quantitative data). We will also collect synchronous quantitative data through electrodermal activity measurements to objectively characterize cognitive load during the activity, helping to better target stressful events. Thus, the project scientifically evaluates new digital and immersive learning methods for command in emergency operations by organizing a simulated exercise. The objective is to improve these pedagogical approaches on a solid scientific basis, with the ambition of deploying this training program at both national and international levels, thereby strengthening Civil Security in the medium and long term. The main results and lessons from this pilot experiment will be communicated through an educational kit for professionals and widely disseminated via scientific and outreach publications, as well as through an international debriefing conference for stakeholders. In the medium to long term, the goal is to respond to a project call with national and international partners, with the aim of scaling up this training program to a larger, multisite level to simulate security and crisis intervention responses across multiple locations.