Exploring Elements of Disaster Prevention Consciousness: Based on Interviews with Anti-disaster Professionals

Abstract

Many educational activities and disaster drills are conducted for the purpose of developing disaster prevention consciousness. It is necessary to develop a standardized psychological scale to measure disaster prevention consciousness; this would help evaluate the effect of activities that improve disaster prevention consciousness. To do this, a qualitative study using a Constructivist Grounded Theory Approach was conducted. First, elements of disaster prevention consciousness were explored through one-hour interviews with a total of ten disaster prevention professionals. They responded to six questions on the characteristics and behaviors of a person who seemed to possess high disaster prevention consciousness. The study yielded six elements in knowledge (ex. “Reality of disaster”), eight elements in behavior (ex. “Preparation for disaster”), and ten psychological elements (ex. “Over-reliance on one measure against disasters,” “Prediction and analysis of situations,” and “Taking a comprehensive view”). A new anti-disaster consciousness model was developed based on these elements.

Relationship between Teachers’ Awareness of Disaster Prevention and Concerns about Disaster Preparedness

“…To promote teacher education on disaster prevention, it is necessary to raise awareness of disasters and to identify factors that may promote it. Disaster prevention awareness is defined as the degree to which an individual is aware on a daily basis that information, materials, and social preparation for disasters are necessary [30,35]. In this study, we used a scale with five scores: imagination of the disaster situation, sense of crisis, being other oriented, interest in disasters, and anxiety.…”

“…Notably, the ability to imagine future events may help to predict and avoid dangerous situations [38]. The psychological aspects of disaster awareness were previously identified as a factor that may influence disaster preparedness [30]. It was shown that the ingenuity to promote imagination is important for education that raises teachers' awareness of disasters.…”

Factors influencing disaster response behavior of international tourists under the Tokyo Metropolitan Earthquake scenario

“…This study adopts the disaster prevention consciousness model of Ozeki et al (2017) as in Figure 1, which is constructed based on extensions of the protection motivation theory (Rogers, 1983), disaster prevention action model (Paton, 2003), and on interview…”

Relationship between disaster prevention awareness and preparedness among residents living in mountainous areas of Japan

“…In this study, "disaster prevention awareness" refers to the degree to which an individual is routinely aware that a disaster can occur and that information, materials, or social preparedness is needed, as well as the degree to which they attempt to protect themselves, the life or property of others, the local community, and the culture of the region (Ozeki, Shimazaki, & Yi, 2017).…”