Exploring facilitator gaze patterns during difficult debriefing through eye-tracking analysis: a pilot study

Abstract

Managing difficult debriefing can be challenging for simulation facilitators. Debriefers may use eye contact as a strategy to build and maintain psychological safety during debriefing. Visual dominance ratio (VDR), a measure of social power, is defined as the percentage of time making eye contact while speaking divided by the percentage of time making eye contact while listening. Little is known about eye gaze patterns during difficult debriefings. To demonstrate the feasibility of examining eye gaze patterns (i.e. VDR) among junior and senior facilitators during difficult debriefing. We recruited 10 trained simulation facilitators (four seniors and six juniors) and observed them debriefing two actors. The actors were scripted to play the role of learners who were engaged in the first scenario, followed by upset (emotional) and confrontational in the second and third scenarios, respectively. The participant facilitators wore an eye-tracking device to record their eye movements and fixation duration. The fixation durations and VDRs were calculated and summarized with median and interquartile range. We explore the effect of scenarios and training level on VDRs using Friedman tests and Wilcoxon rank sum tests. All 10 participants completed all three scenarios. There were no statistically significant differences in VDRs between the junior and senior facilitators for all three scenarios (baseline: The use of eye-tracking device to measure VDR during debriefings is feasible. We did not demonstrate a difference between junior and seniors in eye gaze patterns during difficult debriefings.