Disability and Disasters: The Role of Self-Efficacy in Emergency Preparedness and Psychological Symptoms
Open AccessThis study examined the moderating role of emergency preparedness self-efficacy on the relationships between the perception of threat associated with natural and human-made disasters and outcomes, including behaviors (emergency preparedness) and psychological symptoms (anxiety and distress), for adults with physical disabilities. This study was designed to address gaps in preparedness research for individuals with physical disabilities and to gain information about strengthening preparedness for that population, information that may ultimately strengthen resiliency of the population at large. The hypotheses were based on the integration of two theories—Protection Motivation Theory (PMT; Maddux & Rogers, 1983), which describes how exposure, threat, and preventive behavioral outcomes interact, and the Risk Perception Attitude framework (RPA; Rimal & Real, 2003), which adds specific predictions about how efficacy beliefs influence the impact of perceived threat on related behaviors. Adults with physical disabilities (N = 294) completed an internet-based survey including measures of perceived threat of disasters, emergency preparedness-self efficacy, emergency-preparedness behaviors, and symptoms of anxiety and distress. Most participants completed the survey independently online with a subgroup completing it by telephone interview. The hypotheses were tested using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with relevant covariates. As expected, emergency preparedness self-efficacy moderated the relationship between perceived threat and emergency preparedness behaviors. Specifically, there was a stronger relationship between threat and emergency preparedness for those individuals higher in self-efficacy, compared to individuals lower in self-efficacy. In contrast, emergency preparedness self-efficacy did not moderate the relationships between perceived threat and symptoms of anxiety and distress. Given the lack of significant interactions for those psychological outcomes, potential main effects between perceived threat and emergency preparedness self-efficacy with symptoms were examined. Perceived threat was significantly related to symptoms of anxiety but not significantly related to symptoms of distress. Emergency preparedness self-efficacy was not related to symptoms of either anxiety or distress.These findings suggest that the interaction between threat and emergency preparedness self-efficacy could be a potential target for interventions designed to increase emergency preparedness among individuals with physical disabilities. It is particularly important to increase emergency preparedness self-efficacy for those who perceive more threat. Limitations of the study are acknowledged and recommendations are made for future research.
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Marceron_gwu_0075A_13236.pdf | 2018-01-16 | Open Access |
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