Date of Award
Spring 2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Science (DSc) in Emergency Management
Department
Emergency Management & Public Administration
Committee Chair
Dr. Jane Kushma
Abstract
There is a general assumption in disaster planning that emergency responders will respond for duty in any emergency or disaster. Role abandonment by medic-firefighters could impede an organization’s ability to effectively manage the impact of a disaster. This study investigated household preparedness and work-family conflict levels, identified as primary variables affecting ability and willingness to respond in the literature. The aim was to determine if these factors impacted the ability and willingness of medic-firefighters in a coastal Virginia fire department to respond during disaster scenarios. The results showed that emergency preparedness levels were low, and that there were moderate levels of work-family conflict. The study participants were given three disaster scenarios and asked separately their ability and willingness to respond. In response to questions on ability, the majority of participants reported that they would have the ability to respond to two of the three disaster scenarios and the majority would be willing to respond to all scenarios. There was no correlation found between ability and willingness to respond and levels of preparedness or work-family conflict. While household preparedness and work-family conflict are important considerations, they may not be the primary drivers of response behavior within this professional context. Organizations need to understand the factors that influence response behavior in a specific context, so interventions and policies can be better tailored to enhance the readiness and effectiveness of emergency responders.
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