Associate Professor at the Discipline of Public Health and Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, Flinders University, and a Principal Fellow (Honorary) at the Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, McCaughey VicHealth Centre for Community Wellbeing, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Disasters. 2014 Apr;38(2):249-66. doi: 10.1111/disa.12049.
The Victorian Country Fire Authority in Australia runs the Community Fireguard (CFG) programme to assist individuals and communities in preparing for fire. The objective of this qualitative research was to understand the impact of CFG groups on their members' fire preparedness and response during the 2009 Australian bushfires. Social connectedness emerged as a strong theme, leading to an analysis of data using social capital theory. The main strength of the CFG programme was that it was driven by innovative community members; however, concerns arose regarding the extent to which the programme covered all vulnerable areas, which led the research team to explore the theory of diffusion of innovation. The article concludes by stepping back from the evaluation and using both applied theories to reflect on broad options for community fire preparedness programmes in general. The exercise produced two contrasting options for principles underlying community fire preparedness programmes.
澳大利亚维多利亚乡村消防局（VCCA）开展社区防火员（CFG）项目，以帮助个人和社区为火灾做准备。本项定性研究旨在了解 2009 年澳大利亚丛林大火期间 CFG 小组对成员火灾预防和应对的影响。社会联系是一个强有力的主题，导致使用社会资本理论对数据进行分析。CFG 项目的主要优势在于它是由创新的社区成员推动的；然而，人们对该计划覆盖所有弱势群体的程度表示担忧，这促使研究小组探讨创新扩散理论。本文最后从评估中退后一步，同时运用这两个应用理论来反思社区防火准备计划的一般选择。该研究提出了两个截然不同的选择，作为社区防火准备计划的基本原则。
