The goal of the Behavioral Health & Performance Element is to identify, characterize, and prevent or reduce behavioral health and performance risks associated with space travel, exploration and return to Earth.
The challenges of keeping a crew productive in an environment that can be stressful, where sleep is more difficult, where day and night cycles occur every 90 minutes, and where workloads can be heavy are the focus of the Behavioral Health and Performance Element. This Element uses a variety of venues to conduct research including analog and flight environments. An analog environment is one that simulates conditions that astronauts encounter during a space mission. These conditions might include a remote location, a hostile environment, isolation from family and friends, crowded conditions, changed day-night cycles, or increased stress.
To do this work the scientists working within the Behavioral Health and Performance Element develop tools and technologies to monitor crew activities and mental health. They also develop countermeasures to mitigate problems related to stress, lack of sleep, team cohesion, or crew performance. They focus on strategies such as education, self assessment tools, lighting exposure for alertness/fatigue, models to predict reactions, and medication use. The end result is to optimize the adaptation of the individual and crew to the space environment and maintain motivation, morale, productivity, cohesion and communication.
