Local Public Health Agency Workers' Efficacy Perceptions Toward Hurricane Sandy Recovery Activities

Introduction

Local public health agencies (LPHAs) are at the heart of the public health emergency preparedness system, and their workers play critical roles in all disaster phases – including recovery. Despite this, LPHA workers’ perceptions of efficacy toward disaster recovery challenges remain poorly understood. The devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy and associated requisite recovery activities performed by LPHA workers allow for a unique opportunity to understand LPHA workers’ efficacy perceptions toward public health recovery activities, including influencing factors, and to inform curricular interventions that can modify and enhance LPHA workers’ perceptions of efficacy in performing these duties.

Methods

In January 2014, two focus groups were conducted in geographically- representative clusters of LPHAs affected by Hurricane Sandy (one in Maryland [n=15] and one in New Jersey [n=12]). A diverse sample of focus group participants was recruited to include a variety of organizational roles. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed to qualitatively assess attitudes toward Hurricane Sandy recovery activities, especially those related to self-efficacy and response efficacy. NVivo 10 Software was used for coding.

Results

Focus group participants reported feelings of comfort and confidence (i.e., self-efficacy) in performance of recovery-related job functions, and indicated they felt important to overall recovery activities (i.e., response-efficacy). Facilitators of efficacy in recovery included training, previous experience with disasters and participation in exercises, and understanding of one’s potential impact on overall recovery activities. Barriers included safety in getting to work, lack of clear compensation policies, and lack of clearly outlined responsibilities. Curricular interventions have the potential to modify such perceptions by clarifying policies and/or role-specific responsibilities.

Conclusions

Most LPHA workers’ feel confidence and important during post-disaster recovery activities. These feelings can be enhanced through clearly developed intra- and inter-jurisdictional policies and evidence-informed curricular interventions that explain recovery roles.