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A pilot study of an interactive hazards education program was carried out in Canberra (Australia), with direct input from youth participants. Effects were evaluated in relation to youths' interest in disasters, motivation to prepare, risk awareness, knowledge indicators, perceived preparedness levels, planning and practice for emergencies, and fear and anxiety indicators. Parents also provided ratings, including of actual home‐based preparedness activities. Using a single group pretest‐posttest with benchmarking design, a sample of 20 youths and their parents from a low SES community participated. Findings indicated beneficial changes on a number of indicators. Preparedness indicators increased significantly from pre‐ to posttest on both youth (p < 0.01) and parent ratings (p < 0.01). Parent ratings reflected an increase of just under six home‐based preparedness activities. Youth knowledge about disaster mitigation also was seen to increase significantly (p < 0.001), increasing 39% from pretest levels. While personalized risk perceptions significantly increased (p < 0.01), anxiety and worry levels were seen either not to change (generalized anxiety, p > 0.05) or to reduce between pre‐ and posttest (hazards‐specific fears, worry, and distress, ps ranged from p < 0.05 to < 0.001). In terms of predictors of preparedness, a number of variables were found to predict posttest preparedness levels, including information searching done by participants between education sessions. These pilot findings are the first to reflect quasi‐experimental outcomes for a youth hazards education program carried out in a setting other than a school that focused on a sample of youth from a low SES community.

Discussing trauma and adjustment to trauma, this title focuses on schools and other related community-based networks as gateways to assisting children and families to prepare for a large scale disaster. It assesses risk, and offers education programs for schools, children, and families, the public, and organizations and government

No experimental research has examined the hypothesized benefits of hazards education programs for youth in helping to increase community resilience. This preliminary study followed on from correlational studies and examined the role these programs play in helping increase child and family problem‐ and emotion‐focused coping. Children (n= 219) were randomly assigned, based on classroom, to a condition. The "usual condition" consisted of a reading and discussion program. The "emergency management" condition consisted of the usual condition combined with emergency‐management‐focused teaching and increased interaction between youth and home. Factors assessed included both problem‐ and emotion‐focused factors: knowledge of mitigation and emergency response activities, family and home hazard adjustments, hazard‐related fears, emotion‐focused coping ability, and perceptions of parents' hazard‐related fears. Overall, the results supported the role for hazards education programs in increasing resilience in youth and at home. In particular, large intervention produced effect sizes were seen for both child‐ and parent‐reported hazard adjustments. Significant interactions provided additional support for the role of an emergency management focus in the problem‐focused areas of (1) both child‐ and parent‐reported hazard adjustments and (2) increased hazards‐based knowledge in the youth. These initial findings provide a continuing foundation for further research in this emerging area. Discussion considers the role for such programs in the future.

Virtually no research has examined the hypothesized benefits of hazard education programs for youth in helping to increase community resilience. This exploratory study examined the role of these programs in helping to increase child and family resilience to a range of future hazards. Various aspects of hazards programs were examined in relation to a wide range of child‐ and parent‐reported hazard adjustments in a sample of 560 schoolchildren. Additional factors assessed included childrens' risk perceptions, knowledge of response‐related protective activities, and hazard‐related emotional factors. Overall, the results supported the role of hazards education programs in increasing hazard adjustments in the home. The findings also supported various aspects of education program involvement as being related to more realistic risk perceptions, increased knowledge, and increased interaction with caregivers. Analyses identified the following features of these programs as being particularly important: provision of specific knowledge (e.g., an emergency management perspective); multiple program involvement over time; and, importantly, promotion of increased interaction between children and parents. Overall, findings supported the idea that hazards education programs for youth provide one gateway through which communities can increase their resilience to the effects of a major hazardous event. Findings also provided an initial foundation for further research in this emerging area.

Represents the first systematic attempt to examine the effects of school‐based interventions on children's self‐reported PTSD‐related distress and coping ability following a series of volcanic eruptions in a sample of 112 children. Pretreatment assessments carried out after the eruptions revealed that time was more of an ally for PTSD symptoms than for active coping ability. In terms of randomly assigned intervention conditions, both an exposure and a cognitive behavioural intervention were found to lead to significant improvement in both PTSD‐related distress and coping ability. In terms of effect sizes (Cohen'sd), the coping scores changed more following the one‐hour intervention than they had during the entire two‐month pretreatment interval; PTSD‐related scores changed over half as much as during the two‐month pretreatment interval. In addition, at four‐month follow‐up, either children continued to improve (PTSD‐distress scores) or gains were maintained (coping scores). Treated children's PTSD and coping scores were significantly more adaptive than those of untreated children. Finally, multiple regression analyses did not reveal any significant, prospective predictors of treatment responsivity. Includes consideration of the value of self‐report methodologies at the "early gates" of a multiple gating intervention model and the value of collaborations between scientists in the wake of a disaster.

Previous research has identified a diversity of personal and individual factors that influence household preparedness for earthquakes. However, societal influences on the preparedness process are less well studied. In particular, there is limited understanding of the impact that wider society has on people's interpretation of earthquake and preparedness information, and how this relates to people's decisions about getting prepared for earthquakes. To address this gap, a New Zealand-based project was initiated to investigate how social factors interact with individuals' meaning-making of earthquake information and how this affects subsequent earthquake preparedness behaviour. A range of social factors were identified as being influential on the meaning-making and preparedness process, including community (community participation, sense of community); leadership; responsibility (responsibility for preparing, responsibility for others); social norms; trust; and societal requirements.

PurposeChildren can play an active and valuable role to minimise disaster risks and vulnerabilities. Yet, peer-reviewed literature on child participation in Disaster Resilience Education (DRE) is lacking. This knowledge gap is larger in low- and middle-income countries, especially related to vulnerable communities. The current study explores how child participation in developing and delivering a DRE intervention is associated with their mental well-being and resilience.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative study is part of a larger project where a DRE intervention was co-developed and delivered by children in the informal settlements in Chennai, India, using a participatory approach. This project used qualitative methods including interviews and focus group discussions with children who co-developed the intervention, their parents and staff members of the collaborating Non-Government Organisation (NGO) to understand their experiences and inform its processes.FindingsThe children involved in the development and delivery of the intervention reported that not only did they learn the skills necessary to prepare for hazards in the future, it also increased their confidence, self-worth and self-efficacy. This was also observed by parents and staff members of the collaborating NGO. They expressed pride towards the children and applauded their ability to communicate key Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) messages with assertiveness.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a dearth of empirical papers on child participation in DRR activities, and this study fills some of that gap by reporting the perceived impact of children's participation on their mental well-being and resilience. Furthermore, this study can act as a roadmap for researchers aiming to do action research with children.Practical implicationsDRR is more effective when all stakeholders, especially the affected and at-risk children, and communities are closely involved in structuring, planning, developing and delivering key disaster preparedness messages. This study serves to show that children's participation in DRR activities not only impacts their preparedness but that it helps children in disaster recovery as well, in addition to building their resilience and overall improvement in their mental well-being.Social implicationsGiven the participatory nature of this study, it involves children closely in the development and delivery of DRE intervention. The communities involved in this study had complex vulnerabilities including poverty, marginalisation and based in a low-and-middle income country, India. Oftentimes, these communities are not represented in scientific literature, and this study attempts to bridge that gap.Originality/valueThis study presents a multi-stakeholder perspective on child participation in its potential impact on children's mental well-being and resilience. The DRE intervention was co-developed and delivered by children in the community making it unique in its development process as well as the context it was developed in – informal settlements in Chennai, India.

A main weakness in the evaluation of disaster education programs for children is evaluators' propensity to judge program effectiveness based on changes in children's knowledge. Few studies have articulated an explicit program theory of how children's education would achieve desired outcomes and impacts related to disaster risk reduction in households and communities. This article describes the advantages of constructing program theory models for the purpose of evaluating disaster education programs for children. Following a review of some potential frameworks for program theory development, including the logic model, the program theory matrix, and the stage step model, the article provides working examples of these frameworks. The first example is the development of a program theory matrix used in an evaluation of ShakeOut, an earthquake drill practiced in two Washington State school districts. The model illustrates a theory of action; specifically, the effectiveness of school earthquake drills in preventing injuries and deaths during disasters. The second example is the development of a stage step model used for a process evaluation of What's the Plan Stan?, a voluntary teaching resource distributed to all New Zealand primary schools for curricular integration of disaster education. The model illustrates a theory of use; specifically, expanding the reach of disaster education for children through increased promotion of the resource. The process of developing the program theory models for the purpose of evaluation planning is discussed, as well as the advantages and shortcomings of the theory‐based approaches.

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to assess the national implementation of disaster preparedness education in New Zealand primary schools through the dissemination of What's the Plan, Stan?, a voluntary, curriculum-based teaching resource.


Design/methodology/approach
– Results and findings from a focus group study with school teachers and local civil defence staff in 2011 and a nationally representative survey of schools in 2012 were analyzed to identify intervening, facilitating and deterrent factors of uptake and use of the resource.


Findings
– The main intervening factors between resource promotion and school teachers' awareness of the resource are word of mouth among school teachers and teachers' proactive lesson plan research. The strongest facilitating factor was school-wide use of the resource. Lack of awareness of the resource and the perceived need for teacher training are the greatest deterrents to use of the resource.


Practical implications
– Based on the findings, several recommendations are provided for increasing use of the resource including use of web-based technology for teacher training, integration of disaster preparedness messaging into other children's programs, ongoing evaluation and curriculum requirements.


Originality/value
– An evaluation of the implementation of What's the Plan, Stan? adds to the limited body of knowledge on the benefits and challenges to distributing a voluntary teaching resource as a national strategy for curriculum integration of disaster education. The findings and lessons are relevant for nations meeting the Core Indicators of progress toward the 2005-2015 Hyogo Framework For Action.

Abstract. This article investigates the implementation of disaster risk reduction education for children in Indonesia. In the last decade, education programmes related to this subject have been promoted as capable of reducing disaster losses and increasing resilience, based on several studies that have identified positive outcomes. Therefore, it is critical to evaluate and address any potential challenges that might impede their success. The article uses a case study in Jakarta, a rapidly growing megacity that is highly prone to disasters and natural hazards, especially floods and fires, to explore the scaling up and sustainability of disaster risk reduction in Indonesian schools. Based on previous studies, a new approach was developed for evaluating the implementation of education programmes related to these subjects. This study captured the perspectives of children, school personnel, and non-governmental organisations on the challenges of scaling up the implementation of disaster risk reduction education in schools. The study revealed seven key issues and suggests several policy recommendations to move forward. These key issues may also be apparent in many other developing and developed countries, and the suggested recommendations may well be applicable beyond Indonesia.

Prior research has found little or no direct link between beliefs about earthquake risk and household preparedness. Furthermore, only limited work has been conducted on how people's beliefs influence the nature and number of preparedness measures adopted. To address this gap, 48 qualitative interviews were undertaken with residents in three urban locations in New Zealand subject to seismic risk. The study aimed to identify the diverse hazard and preparedness‐related beliefs people hold and to articulate how these are influenced by public education to encourage preparedness. The study also explored how beliefs and competencies at personal, social, and environmental levels interact to influence people's risk management choices. Three main categories of beliefs were found: hazard beliefs; preparedness beliefs; and personal beliefs. Several salient beliefs found previously to influence the preparedness process were confirmed by this study, including beliefs related to earthquakes being an inevitable and imminent threat, self‐efficacy, outcome expectancy, personal responsibility, responsibility for others, and beliefs related to denial, fatalism, normalization bias, and optimistic bias. New salient beliefs were also identified (e.g., preparedness being a "way of life"), as well as insight into how some of these beliefs interact within the wider informational and societal context.

This paper summarizes research involving a multidisciplinary team of volcanologists and social scientists. It describes collaboration in relation to social and physical risk and vulnerability following the Mount Ruapehu eruptions of 1995‐1996. This work stresses a key role for such multidisciplinary teams in reducing the social impact of volcanic hazards through assisting communities, organizations, and individuals following an eruption and, importantly, during quiescent periods. We present an overview of a multidisciplinary approach and related research. In stressing the role of the physical science community in managing societal hazards and risk, the paper addresses how this role can be enhanced through collaboration with social scientists and others. The emphasis here is the facilitation of volcanological knowledge and expertise in threat communication, mitigation, community development, emergency planning, and response management. Our research has examined mechanisms for integration, multi‐disciplinary training, and preparing volcanologists for the social demands encountered in playing an active crisis management role. One area of overlap that can tie together disciplines and assist the public is the idea that volcanic activity and the related uncertainties are, at their essence, simply problems that with increasingly integrated efforts likewise have increasingly attainable solutions.