Body Mass Bias Mitigation for Females in Military Physical Readiness Testing through Load Carriage Implementation

The US Military requires specific fitness testing, known as the Physical Readiness Test (PRT), for its members to determine their overall fitness levels. The test currently being used has been shown to have bias towards heavier mass individuals of up to 20%. Prior research has been completed and several recommendations have been made to eliminate mass bias, but this has been conducted almost exclusively on males. There is very little data and research on military physical fitness testing for women besides combat specific evolution exercises. A possibility exists to eliminate the bias for females through implementing load carriage during PRT events. A specified load is to be placed on women while performing the PRT and compared to a non-loaded control test. The results should show if the load carriage devised has a beneficial effect on current testing methods through eliminating the mass bias for women.

Author dc:creator

• Yeaton, Aaron

Contributors dc:contributor

• McCauley, Pamela

• Military
• fitness
• prt
• navy
• mass bias
• Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Dissertations, Academic -- Engineering and Computer Science; Engineering and Computer Science -- Dissertations, Academic

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

CFE0006020

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-2415