Background: Community intervention studies in natural hazard preparedness are scarce and are rarely systematically evaluated, slowing the development of the evidence-base in this field. Against the backdrop of the existing studies in the field and within the behaviour change literature, this paper describes the methodology of a cross-cultural, longitudinal, community intervention study on earthquake and home fire preparedness conducted in Seattle, U.S.A. (Autumn, 2015) and Izmir, Turkey (Spring, 2016). Results of the intervention conducted in Seattle are presented.
Methodology: This cross-cultural, longitudinal, non-randomized intervention study, with a pre-test-post-test design, focused on improving earthquake and home fire preparedness at the household level in two cities with high seismic risk: Seattle and Izmir. Participants were adults, aged 18-80, resident in the two cities. For participants in the intervention group, the intervention consisted of two three-hour, face-to-face workshops on earthquake and home fire preparedness. Participants in the control group did not attend the workshop. Both control and intervention groups complete baseline and post-workshop assessments, as well as three-month and 12-month follow-up evaluations. This study is novel in that the primary outcome measure is an observational measure of nine preparedness items for earthquake and fire preparedness. These observations are compared with the self-reported preparedness measures taken. Secondary outcomes are to evaluate changes in levels of motivation, critical awareness, anxiety, perceived self-efficacy and collective efficacy, outcome expectancy, trust, empowerment, and social cohesion. Primary and secondary outcomes are gauged at the four time points in the intervention and control groups.
Results and Discussion: Results of the first intervention study conducted in Seattle (n=157) are presented and discussed as are their implications. This study attempts to fill a gap in the empirical literature on natural hazard preparedness and proposes a model that allows for replication, improvement and guidance for the development of future natural hazard preparedness interventions. Furthermore, study findings aim to inform national and international policies on the delivery of community interventions to enhance multi-hazard preparedness in lay people.
Methodological progress in risk research , Citizen and stakeholder roles in risk management
