Intervention Dimensions: Building a sustainable school based program and study to improve family disaster preparedness actions

Hurricane IKE caused a lot of devastation. It revealed the level of preparedness that is needed in order for families to maintain health and safety during natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes. The Disaster Ambassador Preparedness Program was a school level intervention with a study component to measure the disaster preparedness actions of families before and after the educational program was implemented. Thirty-two schools participated in the program. A non-experimental single group pretest-posttest design was utilized. Quantitative data was collected from parents and teachers before and after an educational intervention to determine the differences in the disaster preparedness actions taken by families related to attitudes, knowledge, perceived susceptibility, and behavior. The data from the survey instruments are currently being analyzed. The results will be available by the time of the conference. Study findings will reveal answers to the following questions to identify conclusions: 1. To what extent does the Disaster Ambassador Preparedness Program (DAPP) affect parents' and teachers knowledge, beliefs and practices regarding their disaster preparedness? 2. In which stage of the Stage of Change Model (Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance) are parents and teachers relative to their disaster preparedness. 3. What barriers do individuals perceive in preparing for disasters? 4. Will teachers agree to adopt the Disaster Ambassador Preparedness into their annual curriculum for continuous instruction?