American Journal of Disaster Medicine
Winter 2015, Volume 10, Number 1
http://pnpcsw.pnpco.com/cadmus/testvol.asp?year=2015&journal=ajdm.

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Article
Emergency preparedness of families of children with developmental disabilities: What public health and safety emergency planners need to know
Susan Wolf-Fordham, JD; Carol Curtin, MSW; Melissa Maslin, MEd; Linda Bandini, PhD; Charles D. Hamad, PhD
Winter 2015; pages 23-34
Abstract
Objective: To assess the emergency preparedness knowledge, behaviors, and training needs of families of children with developmental disabilities (DD).
Design: An online survey. Participants: A sample of 314 self-selecting US parents/guardians of children with DD, aged birth-21 years. Main outcome measures: 1) Preparedness self-assessment; 2) self-report regarding the extent to which families followed 11 specific preparedness action steps derived from publicly available preparedness guides; and 3) parent training and support needs.
Results: Although most participants assessed themselves to be somewhat to moderately well prepared, even those who reported being “very well prepared” had taken fewer than half of 11 recommended action steps. Most participants expressed a need for preparedness support; virtually all the respondents felt that training was either important or very important.
Conclusions: Children with disabilities are known to be particularly vulnerable to negative disaster impacts. Overall, parents in this study appeared under-prepared to meet family disaster needs, although they recognized its importance. The results suggest opportunities and methods for public health and safety planning, education and outreach to parents of children with DD who would benefit from targeted training such as information and skill building to develop effective family preparedness plans and connections to local emergency management and responders.
DOI:10.5055/ajdm.2015.0185

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Article
Local health department workers, public policy, and willingness to respond during emergencies
Lainie Rutkow, JD, PhD, MPH; Jon S. Vernick, JD, MPH; Carol B. Thompson, MS, MBA; Robert Hudson, MSN; Daniel J. Barnett, MD, MPH
Winter 2015; pages 41-50
Abstract
Objectives: To determine whether an association exists between a state’s authority to declare a public health emergency and local public health workers’ response willingness.
Design: The 2009-2010 Johns Hopkins~Public Health Infrastructure Response Survey Tool included questions about demographics and attitudes/beliefs regarding local public health workers’ response willingness during public health emergencies. Survey data were merged with data about presence/absence of a law granting states the authority to declare a public health emergency. Logistic regression analyses were performed with the presence/absence of the law and were adjusted for individuals’ demographic and locale characteristics.
Setting: Data were collected from eight clusters of local health department workers in nine states. Participants: Two thousand nine hundred ninety-three local health department workers.
Main outcome measure: Willingness to respond to four different public health emergency scenarios.
Results: For naturally occurring and human-caused disasters, in unadjusted analyses, there was no statistically significant difference in willingness to respond between individuals living in states with a law that allowed for a governmental declaration of public health emergency and those living in states without such a law. Adjusted analyses yielded similar results.
Conclusions: While laws giving the state the authority to declare a public health emergency are not associated with response willingness, findings may reflect the fact that states rarely declare public health emergencies, giving local public health workers few opportunities to become familiar with the implementation of these laws. In light of this, local health departments should consider altering their own internal policies to promote response willingness among their employees.
DOI:10.5055/ajdm.2015.0187