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Evaluating Perceived Emergency Preparedness and Household Preparedness Behaviors: Results from a CASPER Survey in Fairfax, Virginia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2019

Rennie W. Ferguson ,
Shawn Kiernan ,
Ernst W. Spannhake  and
Benjamin Schwartz
Rennie W. Ferguson*
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Baltimore, Maryland
Shawn Kiernan
Affiliation:
Fairfax County Health Department, Fairfax, Virginia George Mason University, Department of Global and Community Health, Fairfax, Virginia
Ernst W. Spannhake
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Baltimore, Maryland
Benjamin Schwartz
Affiliation:
Fairfax County Health Department, Fairfax, Virginia
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Rennie W. Ferguson, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205 USA (e-mail: rfergu18@jhu.edu) 703-424-4487
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Abstract

Objectives:

Using data collected from a Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) conducted in Fairfax Health District, Virginia, in 2016, we sought to assess the relationship between household-level perceived preparedness and self-reported preparedness behaviors.

Methods:

Weighted population estimates and 95% confidence intervals were reported, and Pearson’s chi-squared test was used to investigate differences by group.

Results:

Examining responses to how prepared respondents felt their household was to handle a large-scale emergency or disaster, an estimated 7.4% of respondents (95% CI: 4.3–12.3) reported that their household was “completely prepared,” 37.3% (95% CI: 31.4–43.7) were “moderately prepared,” 38.2% (95% CI: 31.6–45.2) were “somewhat prepared,” and 14.4% (95% CI: 10.2–20.0) were “unprepared.” A greater proportion of respondents who said that their household was “completely” or “moderately” prepared for an emergency reported engaging in several behaviors related to preparedness. However, for several preparedness behaviors, there were gaps between perceived preparedness and self-reported readiness.

Conclusions:

Community assessments for public health preparedness can provide valuable data about groups who may be at risk during an emergency due to a lack of planning and practice, despite feeling prepared to handle a large-scale emergency or disaster.

Keywords

CASPERcommunity assessmentemergency preparedness
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , April 2020 , pp. 222 - 228
Copyright
© 2019 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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