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Family Caregiving and Disaster Preparedness Information‐Seeking Behaviors: In the Contexts of Community‐Level Social Vulnerabilities

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Objectives This study aimed to investigate how community‐level social vulnerability factors moderated the relationship between family caregiving and three types of disaster preparedness information‐seeking behaviors (i.e., attend a meeting, talk with community members, and independently seek information). Methods Data from FEMA's 2020 National Household Survey were matched with the 2020 Social Vulnerability Index. Two‐level multinomial logistic regression with shared random effects were performed for the information‐seeking behaviors respectively. Results Results showed that caregivers in communities with more persons in group quarters were less likely to attend a disaster preparedness meeting within the past year; and caregivers in communities with more people without health insurance were less likely to attend a meeting more than a year ago. Interestingly, caregivers in communities with more unemployed people were more likely to attend a meeting more than a year ago; and caregivers in communities with more older adults were more likely to seek information more than a year ago. Conclusion The findings highlighted the critical information needs and preferred information‐seeking behaviors among family caregivers. Based on these findings, disaster preparedness communication campaigns should take the special needs of family caregivers as well as community vulnerabilities and strengths into consideration.

Source: Social Science Quarterly

DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.70029

Authors: Zhirui Chen, Zhen Cong

Institutions: Boston College, Chapman University

Language: English

Topic: Disaster Management and Resilience

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Institute of Standards and Technology