Download Free Hurricane Risk Perception Preparedness And Evacuation Intention Among Older Adults Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Hurricane Risk Perception Preparedness And Evacuation Intention Among Older Adults and write the review.

Vulnerability of older adults in all stages of a disaster is well recognized by both scholars and practitioners. However, most relevant empirical research to date has focused on disaster recovery and reconstruction, leaving unanswered the "how" and "why" questions surrounding disaster preparedness and response among older people. The older people?s perceptions of natural hazard risks have been even less explored. To address these research gaps, this study uses a case study of older residents of Sarasota County, Florida and applies a qualitative method to understand the perception, preparedness, and evacuation intention of older people at risk from hurricane hazards. The individual in-depth interviews generate several findings. First, while older residents? knowledge of hurricane threats varied from simple to sophisticated, their perceptions of hurricane risks were predominantly low due to a local myth and hurricane quiescence in recent memory. Second, most older residents took generic actions by preparing extra water, food, and medications, but lacked efforts in more hurricane-specific preparedness due to complacency and lack of awareness, financial capital, and social capital. Third, although a minority of older residents would definitely either shelter in place or evacuate, most demonstrated flexibility with hurricane evacuation and would make spontaneous and situational choices for staying versus leaving in the event of a hurricane. In sum, this dissertation utilizes a qualitative inquiry to weave richer personal and contextual details that are less visible through a quantitative lens to make sense of a population-specific and site-specific vulnerability to hurricane hazards. As the older populations continue to grow in size and diversify in characteristics, my research aims to advance understanding of the internal commonality and variability among older adults and help inform need-based rather than strictly age-contingent policies for hazard vulnerability reduction and resilience building.
This dissertation presents research conducted during the hurricane seasons of 2017 and 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The research’s purpose was to assess citizen perceptions of evacuation support services offered during mandatory evacuation events. A prospective quantitative survey and qualitative, open-ended, semi-structured interview assessed perceptions. Both research methods were designed and assessed using the constructs of the Health Belief Model, a public health model created to assess perceived barriers, benefits, risks, severity, self-efficacy, and cues to action regarding health programming. Quantitative research yielded 211 surveys, representing opinions of New Orleans residents within 1-km Euclidian distance of an evacuation pick-up marker. Qualitative research yielded 20 interviews detailing perceptions of evacuation support in New Orleans across Evacuspot zones. Quantitative findings found that: social support systems influence decisions to evacuate and influence varies by race; gendered preference for evacuating in New Orleans is higher for males; pet ownership lowers evacuation preference; the elderly have a lower preference for evacuation; disability status does not impact evacuation preference; there is no association found in awareness of evacuation assistance programming by education level, but there is an association by race; there is no association found between homeowners and non-homeowners in self-reported evacuation compliance; and, trust in the City of New Orleans varies significantly by race and education level. Qualitative findings included perceived barriers of pet ownership, finances, age, anxiety, property ownership, traffic, lack of preparedness messaging, low levels of trust in city services, and misunderstanding of programming; perceived benefits of personal comfort; risk perceptions that were influenced by perceptions of city competency; low perceived self-efficacy to use evacuation programming; few local cues to action to utilize programming; and perceptions of severity influenced by x misunderstandings of the Saffir-Simpson scale. Results led to conclusions regarding the current prospective efficacy of City-Assisted Evacuation in New Orleans, and enabled recommendations for improving programming strategies. This research seeks to move evacuation behavior research from vulnerability-factor based research to multi-variable, intersectional, community informed assessment strategies, and contributes to literature on proactive emergency management strategies and expressed preference approach research.
Problem statement: The number of disasters, both natural and man-made, continues to increase all over the world. In addition, people who are age 65 years and older represent the largest growing segment of the population in the United States. Therefore, it is inevitable that a growing number of older adults will face the effects of disasters. Existing literature confirms that older adults are more vulnerable to poor health outcomes related to disasters. Since a large number of older adults are living independently in the community, their preparedness for disasters is of increasing concern. Aim: The purpose of this research study was to assess the disaster preparedness of independent community-dwelling older adults. Methods: The study involved a convenience sampling of older adults, 65 years and above, who were surveyed in three senior citizen centers in the New York metropolitan area. The survey included demographic questions, as well as questions related to hurricane preparedness. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-Square Test of Independence and logistic regression. Findings: Of 183 respondents 70% were female, 90% were Caucasian and the majority were between the ages of 71 and 89 (67%). Approximately half of the respondents had high school education or less, and half had some college education or more. Ninety-three percent were independent in activities of daily living skills. Two-thirds of the respondents reported missing at least one household item from the American Red Cross Guidelines. Prior hurricane experience did not influence personal preparedness. The only demographic factor that was predictive of preparedness was education. The higher the level of education, the more prepared respondents tended to be. The length of time living in a hurricane-prone area was also predictive of preparedness. In addition, only 39% had an evacuation plan. Conclusion: This study identified a lack of personal disaster preparedness among a sample of independent community-dwelling older adults. Public health initiatives must focus on the development and implementation of programs and policies to prepare older adults for disasters and thus improve health outcome.
Introduction: Older adults are less likely than younger populations to engage in preparedness behaviors (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2012). They are also more likely to be affected by negative health outcomes after a disaster, especially those in rural communities (Ashida, Robinson, Gay, & Ramirez, 2016). This preparedness gap translates into lack of overall preparedness within the vulnerable population communities. With the ever changing priorities in preparedness, ensuring that preparing older adults remains a priority is an important focus. The focus of this research is to investigate preparedness communication strategies, barriers and the relationship between preparedness behavior and risk perception with older adults and emergency management personnel in Georgia. Methods: This research was conducted in two phases using adapted measures for preparedness, susceptibility and severity in face to face and online surveys. Phase I encompassed one qualitative aim, collecting data from local emergency management personnel and older adults on their perceptions of hazards, communication needs/strategies and barriers. Phase II consisted of two quantitative aims investigating the association between preparedness behaviors and risk perception. Aim two of this phase investigated the effects of race, education and income on preparedness and risk perception. Results: Phase I data indicated that emergency management personnel and older adults in Georgia perceive many of the same risks, but older adults perceive risk more in the effects of hazards rather than the hazards themselves. Emergency management personnel need to use communication strategies that reflects the diversity in the older adult population. Aims 2 analysis indicated there was not a significant relationship between preparedness behaviors and threat perception. Aim 3 analysis did not significantly support effects of education, race and income on preparedness and threat perception. Conclusions: Yet, these results indicate ways to address this issue with older adults in Georgia. By tailoring message strategies specifically for their local older adults and using local agencies for dissemination, emergency management personnel can cue this population to action in preparedness behavior. Limitations: Qualitatively, low numbers of interviewees and focus group members may not wholly reflect all Georgia residents. The creation of average scores for indexed preparedness and risk perception measures may have underestimated associations.
Older adults are considered one of the most vulnerable populations in natural disasters, and our knowledge of the communicative processes behind their disaster preparations is limited. Extant research has called for more scholarship to understand the antecedents to their preparations. One promising area in the literature is the notion of community for older adults. While perceptions of community have positive health benefits, there is little work that investigates the role of community perceptions in the natural disaster context for older adults. The focus of this effort is to bring more attention to the role that community and organizations have on risk behaviors for older adults by extending Witte’s (1992) Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM). To accomplish this goal, this study incorporates the concept of community-efficacy into the perceptions of efficacy component of the model to better understand intention toward preparing in advance for natural disasters for older adults living in continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). EPPM, generally an individual-centered health communication theory, includes the concepts of threat and efficacy, but overlooks a collective component, community-efficacy. Using quantitative survey data from two CCRCs in U.S., this research contributes to communication scholarship by highlighting how community-efficacy uniquely explains a significant, but small amount of additional variance on the intention to prepare for natural disasters above all other predictors in EPPM. This dissertation’s extension of the perceived efficacy components of EPPM can be useful at predicting older adults’ future disaster preparedness behaviors. Given the role of community resilience during natural disasters, as well as the beneficial impact of community within retirement communities, this dissertation examined several variables that influence the intention to prepare. The results show that disaster management perceptions, community identification, and response-efficacy moderate the relationship between community-efficacy and intention to prepare, while previous experience with natural disasters and communication with others before a natural disaster predicts the intention to prepare. Together, the investigation of these variables provides insight into both theoretical and practical considerations needed for understanding disaster preparations in the older adult context
The purpose of this study was to describe the predictors of evacuation intention among coastal residents in the State of Florida and to determine if there are meaningful segments of the population who intend to evacuate when told to do so by governmental officials because of a major hurricane. In the Americas and the Caribbean, 75,000 deaths have been attributed to hurricanes in the 20th century. A well planned evacuation can reduce injury and death, yet many people do not have an evacuation plan and do not intend to evacuate when told to do so. The study used secondary data from the Harvard School of Public Health, Hurricane in High Risk Areas study, a random sample of 5,046 non-institutionalized persons age 18 and older in coastal counties of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. Surveys for the State of Florida were segregated and used in this analysis, resulting in a study sample of 1,006 surveys from 42 counties. When asked if they would evacuate in the future if told to by government officials, 59.1% of Floridians surveyed said they would leave, 35.2% said they would not leave and 5.6% said it would depend. In Florida, 65.7% of the population had been threatened or hit by a major hurricane in the last three years and 26.6% of those had left their homes because of the hurricane. Of those whose communities were threatened by a hurricane, 83.3% of the communities were damaged and 33.8% experienced major flooding associated with the hurricane. Bivariate statistics and logistic regression were used to explore the interactions of predictors and evacuation intention. The best predictor of evacuation intention was prior evacuation from a hurricane (chi-square= 45.48, p
Facing the Unexpected presents the wealth of information derived from disasters around the world over the past 25 years. The authors explore how these findings can improve disaster programs, identify remaining research needs, and discuss disaster within the broader context of sustainable development. How do different people think about disaster? Are we more likely to panic or to respond with altruism? Why are 110 people killed in a Valujet crash considered disaster victims while the 50,000 killed annually in traffic accidents in the U.S. are not? At the crossroads of social, cultural, and economic factors, this book examines these and other compelling questions. The authors review the influences that shape the U.S. governmental system for disaster planning and response, the effectiveness of local emergency agencies, and the level of professionalism in the field. They also compare technological versus natural disaster and examine the impact of technology on disaster programs.
This book details the outcomes of new research focusing on climate risk related to hurricanes. Topics include numerical simulation of tropical cyclones, through tropical cyclone hazard estimation to damage estimates and their implications for commercial risk. Inspired by the 6th International Summit on Hurricanes and Climate Change: From Hazard to Impact, this book brings together leading international academics and researchers, and provides a source reference for both risk managers and climate scientists for research on the interface between tropical cyclones, climate and risk.
Emergency messages and warnings convey emergency preparedness actions for hurricanes; however, it is unknown why Americans do not adopt emergency preparedness behaviors. Five research questions were developed to understand this phenomenon: How does the predominant frame of government hazard communications help to explain the relationship between hazard awareness, risk perception, and emergency preparedness behaviors through mixed methods analysis?; How are the individual and social risk attitudes and opinions of citizens shaped upon receipt of government hazard communications?; How do government communications practices influence the public's views of hazard potential?; What are the predominant frames used by local and state emergency management officials for hazard communications?; and What are citizen attitudes and opinions concerning the accuracy of local and state government hazard communications? The four hypotheses for this concurrent mixed methods study were: There are significant statistical relationships between hazard awareness, risk perception, and emergency preparedness; As a result of government hazard awareness communications, there will be a significant increase in hazard awareness, risk perception, and citizen emergency preparedness behaviors; There is a significant statistical relationship between the predominant frames of government hazard communications, hazard awareness, risk perception, and emergency preparedness behaviors; and There is a statistical relationship between government communications practices and the public's opinions of hazard potential. The study's findings discovered statistical relationships between hazard awareness, risk perception, emergency preparedness behaviors, and normative frames of government hazard communications. Recommendations for future research include completion of a mixed method longitudinal study to explore participant perceptions before, during, and alter a hurricane's impact.