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DISASTER PERCEPTIONS AND PREPAREDNESS BEHAVIORS AMONG U.S. OLDER ADULTS

U.S. economic loss from natural disasters hit an all-time high in 2017 with 16 climate events totaling $306 billion. However, disasters’ costliest effects may result from emotional and psychosocial health. Research suggests those who are: seniors, distressed, and/or experience early-life vulnerabili...

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Autores principales: Krook, Melissa, Vitaliano, Peter
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6840523/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.1030
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author Krook, Melissa
Vitaliano, Peter
author_facet Krook, Melissa
Vitaliano, Peter
author_sort Krook, Melissa
collection PubMed
description U.S. economic loss from natural disasters hit an all-time high in 2017 with 16 climate events totaling $306 billion. However, disasters’ costliest effects may result from emotional and psychosocial health. Research suggests those who are: seniors, distressed, and/or experience early-life vulnerabilities have increased risk for negative health responses. This study addresses the need to reduce vulnerability/increase preparedness by evaluating how older adults (OA) perceive/prepare for disasters, including influential psychological factors. Literature review results indicate OA are: (1) among our most vulnerable populations for disasters, (2) underprepared, though resources are available, and (3) preparing friends/family before themselves. The Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST) posits: alongside aging, time perceptions become constrained, motivations shift, and we prefer positive over negative information. Therefore, I asked: (1) if OA are intuitively resistant to negative information, like impending disasters, how might we reframe it to align with their desire for positive information? (2) If we approach OA through positive experiences, will they be motivated to prepare? I employed a model: preparedness behavior (PB) is a function of vulnerability (V) and resilience (R). A survey was developed to assess how factors of V and R would interact/influence PB. I will pilot test this survey through evaluating community-living OA. PB is expected to be negatively related to V, positively related to R. This study extends disaster research by using psychological variables to predict preparedness and evaluating preparedness motivation using SST as a guiding framework. Results should increase knowledge about OA’s disaster preparedness perceptions and factors to mitigate increased preparedness.
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spelling pubmed-68405232019-11-15 DISASTER PERCEPTIONS AND PREPAREDNESS BEHAVIORS AMONG U.S. OLDER ADULTS Krook, Melissa Vitaliano, Peter Innov Aging Session 1345 (Poster) U.S. economic loss from natural disasters hit an all-time high in 2017 with 16 climate events totaling $306 billion. However, disasters’ costliest effects may result from emotional and psychosocial health. Research suggests those who are: seniors, distressed, and/or experience early-life vulnerabilities have increased risk for negative health responses. This study addresses the need to reduce vulnerability/increase preparedness by evaluating how older adults (OA) perceive/prepare for disasters, including influential psychological factors. Literature review results indicate OA are: (1) among our most vulnerable populations for disasters, (2) underprepared, though resources are available, and (3) preparing friends/family before themselves. The Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST) posits: alongside aging, time perceptions become constrained, motivations shift, and we prefer positive over negative information. Therefore, I asked: (1) if OA are intuitively resistant to negative information, like impending disasters, how might we reframe it to align with their desire for positive information? (2) If we approach OA through positive experiences, will they be motivated to prepare? I employed a model: preparedness behavior (PB) is a function of vulnerability (V) and resilience (R). A survey was developed to assess how factors of V and R would interact/influence PB. I will pilot test this survey through evaluating community-living OA. PB is expected to be negatively related to V, positively related to R. This study extends disaster research by using psychological variables to predict preparedness and evaluating preparedness motivation using SST as a guiding framework. Results should increase knowledge about OA’s disaster preparedness perceptions and factors to mitigate increased preparedness. Oxford University Press 2019-11-08 /pmc/articles/PMC6840523/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.1030 Text en © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Session 1345 (Poster)
Krook, Melissa
Vitaliano, Peter
DISASTER PERCEPTIONS AND PREPAREDNESS BEHAVIORS AMONG U.S. OLDER ADULTS
title DISASTER PERCEPTIONS AND PREPAREDNESS BEHAVIORS AMONG U.S. OLDER ADULTS
title_full DISASTER PERCEPTIONS AND PREPAREDNESS BEHAVIORS AMONG U.S. OLDER ADULTS
title_fullStr DISASTER PERCEPTIONS AND PREPAREDNESS BEHAVIORS AMONG U.S. OLDER ADULTS
title_full_unstemmed DISASTER PERCEPTIONS AND PREPAREDNESS BEHAVIORS AMONG U.S. OLDER ADULTS
title_short DISASTER PERCEPTIONS AND PREPAREDNESS BEHAVIORS AMONG U.S. OLDER ADULTS
title_sort disaster perceptions and preparedness behaviors among u.s. older adults
topic Session 1345 (Poster)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6840523/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.1030
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