Attitudinal Determinants of Local Public Health Workers' Participation in Hurricane Sandy Recovery Activities

Abstract

Local health departments play a critical role in short-, intermediate-, and long-term recovery activities after a public health emergency. However, research has not explored attitudinal determinants of health department workers' participation in the recovery phase following a disaster. Accordingly, this qualitative investigation aims to understand perceived facilitators and barriers to performing recovery-related activities following Hurricane Sandy among local health department workers. In January 2014, 2 focus groups were conducted in geographically representative clusters of local health departments affected by Hurricane Sandy (1 cluster in Maryland and 1 cluster in New Jersey). Focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed to qualitatively assess attitudes toward Hurricane Sandy recovery activities. This analysis identified 5 major thematic categories as facilitators and barriers to participation in recovery activities: training, safety, family preparedness, policies and planning, and efficacy. Systems that support engagement of health department personnel in recovery activities may endeavor to develop and communicate intra- and interjurisdictional policies that minimize barriers in these areas. Development and implementation of evidence-informed curricular interventions that explain recovery roles may also increase local health department worker motivation to participate in recovery activities.

New York State Public Health System Response to Hurricane Sandy: Lessons From the Field

“…Studies indicate that interjurisdictional training and development of partnerships have positive impacts on staff willingness to participate. 16 In the NYS interviews, the need for more training to improve preparedness was frequently cited as a recommendation by LHD and NYSDOH staff. Many training suggestions were for exercises that involved more staff and collaboration across agencies.…”

Examining Public Health Workers’ Perceptions Toward Participating in Disaster Recovery After Hurricane Sandy: A Quantitative Assessment

“…Companion qualitative findings found that DR-related sense of one's role-importance may be enhanced through strong leadership, perceived appreciation by leadership, and perceived public benefit of participation. 19 Demonstrated leadership support for DR activities (eg, through thank you letters and on-site participation) may provide a low cost mechanism for enhancement of DR-related WTP.…”

“…Companion qualitative findings suggest training (eg, role-specific training, incident command training, and interjurisdictional training) could enhance LPHA worker performance of recovery activities, and concurrently increase levels of self-efficacy. 19 Moreover, curricular interventions using an EPPM framework have been shown to significantly enhance response willingness among LPHA workers. 15 Recovery-focused curricular interventions using an EPPM framework have the potential to enhance WTP in DR among LPHA workers.…”

Qualitative Assessment of a Novel Efficacy-Focused Training Intervention for Public Health Workers in Disaster Recovery

“…Some trainees, however, found session four valuable as a way to individually and collectively celebrate recovery accomplishments, which previous research has identified as beneficial to perceptions of efficacy among employees. 14 In praising the perceived benefits of training across departments in their agencies, participants suggested that it would have been helpful to train with other local non-public health agencies. Participants thought it was important for their colleagues in other agencies to understand recovery as a continuum and felt that training together would improve interagency coordination in recovery situations.…”

“…The resulting data were used in curricular development between June and October 2014. 14 The training curriculum comprised four 90-minute, interactive, face-to-face sessions ( Table 1). The curriculum introduced the concept of community disaster recovery within the recovery continuum as described in the FEMA National Disaster Recovery Framework; 11 defined the disaster recovery roles of the LPHA and the individuals who work within it; and explored potential personal, family, and workplace considerations that LPHA workers often face during disaster recovery-phase efforts.…”