Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-7zcd7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-11T20:12:41.225Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Qualitative Assessment of a Novel Efficacy-Focused Training Intervention for Public Health Workers in Disaster Recovery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2016

Craig Tower ,
Brian A. Altman ,
Kandra Strauss-Riggs ,
Annelise Iversen ,
Stephanie Garrity ,
Carol B. Thompson ,
Lauren Walsh ,
Lainie Rutkow ,
Kenneth Schor  and
Daniel J. Barnett
Craig Tower
Affiliation:
Environmental Health Sciences, Baltimore, Maryland.
Brian A. Altman
Affiliation:
The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc, Bethesda, Maryland
Kandra Strauss-Riggs
Affiliation:
The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc, Bethesda, Maryland
Annelise Iversen
Affiliation:
International Health, Baltimore, Maryland
Stephanie Garrity
Affiliation:
Cecil County Health Department, Elkton, Maryland
Carol B. Thompson
Affiliation:
Biostatistics, Baltimore, Maryland
Lauren Walsh
Affiliation:
The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc, Bethesda, Maryland
Lainie Rutkow
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Departments of Health Policy and Management, Baltimore, Maryland
Kenneth Schor
Affiliation:
National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Rockville, Maryland
Daniel J. Barnett*
Affiliation:
Environmental Health Sciences, Baltimore, Maryland.
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Daniel J. Barnett, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, 615 North Wolfe Street Room E7036, Baltimore, MD 21205 (e-mail: dbarnett@jhsph.edu).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

We trained local public health workers on disaster recovery roles and responsibilities by using a novel curriculum based on a threat and efficacy framework and a training-of-trainers approach. This study used qualitative data to assess changes in perceptions of efficacy toward Hurricane Sandy recovery and willingness to participate in future disaster recoveries.

Methods

Purposive and snowball sampling were used to select trainers and trainees from participating local public health departments in jurisdictions impacted by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Two focus groups totaling 29 local public health workers were held in April and May of 2015. Focus group participants discussed the content and quality of the curriculum, training logistics, and their willingness to engage in future disaster recovery efforts.

Results

The training curriculum improved participants’ understanding of and confidence in their disaster recovery work and related roles within their agencies (self-efficacy); increased their individual- and agency-level sense of role-importance in disaster recovery (response-efficacy); and enhanced their sense of their agencies’ effective functioning in disaster recovery. Participants suggested further training customization and inclusion of other recovery agencies.

Conclusion

Threat- and efficacy-based disaster recovery trainings show potential to increase public health workers’ sense of efficacy and willingness to participate in recovery efforts. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:615–622)

Keywords

disasterrecoveryefficacytrainingpublic health

Information

Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , August 2016 , pp. 615 - 622
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

1. Altevogt, BM, Pope, AM, Hill, MN, et al. eds. Committee on Research Priorities in Emergency Preparedness and Response for Public Health Systems. Research Priorities in Emergency Preparedness and Response for Public Health Systems: A Letter Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2008.Google Scholar
2. Smith, RA, Ferrara, M, Witte, K. Social sides of health risks: stigma and collective efficacy. Health Commun. 2007;21(1):55-64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10410230701283389.Google Scholar
3. Witte, K. Putting the fear back into fear appeals: the Extended Parallel Process Model. Commun Monogr. 1992;59(4):329-349. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03637759209376276.Google Scholar
4. Witte, K, Allen, M. A meta-analysis of fear appeals: implications for effective public health campaigns. Health Educ Behav. 2000;27(5):591-615. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/109019810002700506.Google Scholar
5. McMahan, S, Witte, K, Meyer, J. The perception of risk messages regarding electromagnetic fields: extending the Extended Parallel Process Model to an unknown risk. Health Commun. 1998;10(3):247-259. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327027hc1003_4.Google Scholar
6. Balicer, RD, Catlett, CL, Barnett, DJ, et al. Characterizing hospital workers’ willingness to respond to a radiological event [published online October 27, 011]. PLoS One. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0025327.Google Scholar
7. Barnett, DJ, Balicer, RD, Thompson, CB, et al. Assessment of local public health workers’ willingness to respond to pandemic influenza through application of the extended parallel process model [published online July 24, 2009]. PLoS One. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006365.Google Scholar
8. Barnett, DJ, Levine, R, Thompson, CB, et al. Gauging U.S. emergency medical services workers’ willingness to respond to pandemic influenza using a threat- and efficacy-based assessment framework [published online March 24, 2010]. PLoS One. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0009856.Google Scholar
9. Barnett, DJ, Thompson, CB, Errett, NA, et al. Determinants of emergency response willingness in the local public health workforce by jurisdictional and scenario patterns: a cross-sectional survey [published online March 7, 2012]. BMC Public Health. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-164.Google Scholar
10. Barnett, DJ, Thompson, CB, Semon, NL, et al. EPPM and willingness to respond: the role of risk and efficacy communication in strengthening public health emergency response systems. Health Commun. 2014;29(6):598-609. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2013.785474.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11. Federal Emergency Management Agency, US Department of Homeland Security. National Disaster Recovery Framework: Strengthening Disaster Recovery for the Nation. September 2011. http://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1820-25045-5325/508_ndrf.pdf. Updated February 24, 2015. Accessed August 10, 2015.Google Scholar
12. Merriam, S, Caffarella, R, Baumgartner, L. Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide, 3rd ed. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons; 2007.Google Scholar
13. Knowles, M, Holton, E, Swanson, R. The Adult Learner: The Definitive Classic in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 7th ed. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann; 2011.Google Scholar
14. Errett, NA, Egan, S, Garrity, S, et al. Attitudinal determinants of local public health workers’ participation in Hurricane Sandy recovery activities. Health Secur. 2015;13(4):267-273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/hs.2015.0004.Google Scholar
15. Denzin, NK, Lincoln, YS. eds. The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications; 2011.Google Scholar
16. Bandura, A. Self-efficacy. In:. Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons; 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0836.Google Scholar
17. NVivo [computer program]. Version 10. Burlington, MA: QSR International (Americas) Inc; 2012.Google Scholar
18. Walsh, L, Garrity, S, Rutkow, L, et al. Applying a behavioral model framework for disaster recovery research in local public health agencies: a conceptual approach. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2015;9(4):403-408. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2015.44.Google Scholar
19. Harrison, KL, Errett, NA, Rutkow, L, et al. An Intervention for enhancing public health crisis response willingness among local health department workers: a qualitative programmatic analysis. Am J Disaster Med. 2014;9(2):87-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.5055/ajdm.2014.0145.Google Scholar
20. Bandura, A. Exercise of human agency through collective efficacy. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2000;9(3):75-78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00064.Google Scholar
21. Van Dyke, ME, McCormick, LC, Bolus, NE, et al. Radiological emergency preparedness: a survey of nuclear medicine technologists in the United States. J Nucl Med Technol. 2013;41(3):223-230. http://dx.doi.org/10.2967/jnmt.113.124677.Google Scholar
22. Pillow, MT, Stader, D, Nguyen, M, et al. Perceptions of basic, advanced, and pediatric life support training in a United States medical school. J Emerg Med. 2014;46(5):695-700. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2013.08.055.Google Scholar