Assistant Professor, Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, Hunter College, The City University of New York, New York.
J Emerg Manag. 2021 Mar-Apr;19(2):143-163. doi: 10.5055/jem.0493.
To understand how elderly and medically frail adults have experienced disasters and how this experience impacts what they do now to prepare for disasters and to generate theory regarding the process through which community members prepare for disasters.
This study employed a qualitative descriptive methodology, Situational Analysis (SA), to explore the social processes of disaster preparedness in vulnerable community members. The Protective Action Decision Model was used to inspire the interview guide and initial coding of the data. Discourse analysis was performed on noninterview data.
A coastal urban community heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Convenience sample of 33 elderly or medically frail community members.
Based on the findings, it was theorized that these community members are unprepared for disasters. Their lack of preparedness is due in large part to a lack of education on how best to prepare. If these community members are incidentally prepared, it is largely due to their past experience with disaster or their professional experience. The preparedness discourse did not recognize the extent to which elderly and medically frail populations rely on institutions and social support networks to meet their disaster resilience antecedents.
Community interventions such as distributing disaster supply kits and offering evacuation assistance can help to overcome situational impediments to preparedness and provide the best chance for community members to survive disasters without becoming ill or injured. Study results can inform emergency plans and policy efforts to better meet the needs of these community members during disasters.
了解老年人和体弱多病的成年人是如何经历灾难的，以及这种经历如何影响他们现在为灾难做准备的方式，并生成关于社区成员如何准备应对灾难的过程的理论。
本研究采用定性描述方法，情境分析（SA），来探讨弱势社区成员的灾难准备的社会过程。保护行动决策模型被用来启发访谈指南和数据的初步编码。对非访谈数据进行了话语分析。
2012 年受飓风桑迪严重破坏的沿海城市社区。
方便抽样的 33 名老年人或体弱多病的社区成员。
根据研究结果，理论上认为这些社区成员对灾难没有准备。他们缺乏准备在很大程度上是由于缺乏关于如何最好地准备的教育。如果这些社区成员偶然有所准备，那主要是因为他们过去经历过灾难或他们的专业经验。准备情况的讨论并没有认识到老年人和体弱多病的人群在多大程度上依赖机构和社会支持网络来满足他们的灾难恢复前因。
社区干预措施，如分发灾难供应包和提供疏散援助，可以帮助克服准备工作中的情境障碍，并为社区成员提供最大的机会在不生病或受伤的情况下在灾难中生存。研究结果可以为应急计划和政策努力提供信息，以更好地满足这些社区成员在灾难期间的需求。
