Symposia
Disaster Mental Health
Marcela C. Weber, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
North little Rock, Arkansas
Stefan E. Schulenberg, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychology, University of Mississippi
Taylor, Mississippi
Background: Individuals often underestimate disaster risk and overestimate their own preparedness, even for disasters prevalent in a given region, and even among disaster survivors (Wachinger et al., 2012, Lechowska, 2018). Considering the heterogenous effects of prior disaster exposure on preparedness, it is important to identify the processes and mechanisms by which experiences of disasters lead to increased preparedness. Posttraumatic growth (PTG), or positive changes after a stressor, could explain how some, but not all, disaster survivors come to value and engage in preparedness.
Method: University students and employees (N = 1113) in a tornado-prone region were surveyed from 2015-2017. Regarding tornadoes, structural fires, and disease outbreaks, they reported perceived likelihood, self-efficacy for responding to that hazard, perceived resilience of the university, how much they valued preparedness, and their exposure to each hazard type. Tornado survivors (N = 661) were also asked how many they had experienced, severity of impact (e.g. lost electricity, saw someone injured), and their PTG from tornadoes.
Results: Wilcoxon signed rank tests were conducted to compare tornado perceptions to disease outbreak and fire perceptions. Perceived likelihood and prior exposure were greater for tornadoes compared to both disease and fire. Valuing preparedness, perceived organizational resilience, and self-efficacy in responding were significantly greater for tornadoes compared to disease outbreaks (not to fire). In separate multivariate regressions for each of the three hazards, greater prior exposure, valuing preparedness for that hazard, and hazard-specific self-efficacy predicted greater preparedness. For tornado survivors, PTG mediated the effect of tornado severity on both preparedness and valuing preparedness.
Conclusion: PTG appears to be the process by which disaster experiences result in increased disaster preparedness. Simply experiencing a disaster, even a severe one, does not necessarily instill disaster preparedness as a value; however, changing in positive ways as a result of a more severe disaster involves caring more about preparedness and becoming more prepared. Increased disaster preparedness is not an inevitable outcome of the global COVID-19 pandemic, but it is a potential one. Adaptive growth and recovery from one disaster involves valuing and practice of preparedness for future disasters.