Knowledge and Behaviors of Parents in Planning for and Dealing with Emergencies

Abstract

In recent years, a number of large-scale disasters have occurred both locally and internationally, heightening our awareness of potential dangers. If a disaster were to occur at a school, there is the potential for a large number of children to be injured or affected in some way. The school community includes not only the staff and students who are on campus each day, but also students' parents and the surrounding neighborhood. How parents react during emergencies and disasters at schools is likely associated with their knowledge and perceptions of emergencies and disasters. Parents' preparedness levels and their planned response to a school-based emergency and how schools plan and manage for these reactions have not been explored. Utilizing a mixed methods design that included surveys, semi-structured interviews and focus groups with members of the communities in two South Los Angeles school districts, this study aims to provide an overview of parents' levels of emergency and disaster preparedness and the challenges they face in preparing for these events. Additionally, parents' planned responses to a school-based emergency or disaster are discussed as well as the challenges that schools may face as a result. Data from this study confirm that there are a number of challenges related to parents' planned response to a school-based emergency, including an expected inundation of parents to the schools, lack of communication between schools and parents and language barriers. Recommendations for schools are provided to take advantage of parent populations to better integrate them into schools' emergency planning processes.

Household Emergency Preparedness: A Literature Review

“…Ten high-risk populations are identified: ''seniors, aboriginal residents, low-income residents, persons with low literacy levels, transient populations, persons with a disability, medically dependent persons, children and youth, women, and new immigrants and cultural minorities'' [10, p. 26]. Other conceptualizations of high-risk groups include single parent households and those responsible for their extended families [12,[26][27][28][29].…”

Disaster Preparedness Among Families of Children With Special Health Care Needs

“…14,15 Current surveys indicate that less than one third of the public has a basic family emergency plan, and two thirds of the public, including parents of school-aged children, report feeling unprepared for a disaster. [16][17][18]…”

“…Even with national and local media campaigns such as the Ad Council's Ready America and the Alabama's Department of Public Health's Get 10, most families are not adequately prepared 1415. Current surveys indicate that less than one third of the public has a basic family emergency plan, and two thirds of the public, including parents of school-aged children, report feeling unprepared for a disaster 161718…”

The Importance of Self-Efficacy in Parental Emergency Preparedness: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…Parenthood can be defined in several different ways, including whether or not one has had a child in the past, whether one currently cares for a child, and, as a continuous variable, by the number of children one cares for. Researchers have noted the important role that parents play in helping their children adapt post disaster 16 and the degree to which parents feel unprepared before a disaster, 17 but they have not adequately empirically examined effects of parenting on preparedness. It has been assumed that parents prepare more than non-parents, but that it is not clear whether that is due to the gender of the primary parent or other characteristics of the family.…”