Household Preparedness and Preferred Communication Channels in Public Health Emergencies: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Residents in an Asian Developed Urban City

Tam, Greta; Huang, Zhe; Chan, Emily Ying Yang

doi:10.3390/ijerph15081598

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

...

Open AccessArticle

Household Preparedness and Preferred Communication Channels in Public Health Emergencies: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Residents in an Asian Developed Urban City

Greta Tam

Zhe Huang

² and

Emily Ying Yang Chan

^1,2,*

Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(8), 1598; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081598

Received: 14 June 2018 / Revised: 5 July 2018 / Accepted: 14 July 2018 / Published: 27 July 2018

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health-Related Emergency Disaster Risk Management (Health-EDRM))

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figures

Citation Export

Abstract

Disaster awareness and household preparedness are crucial for reducing the negative effects of a disaster. This study aims to examine the citizens’ preparedness level in the event of a general disaster or outbreak of infectious disease and to identify suitable channels for community disease surveillance and risk communication. We used a stratified random design to conduct a digit-dialed telephone survey in Hong Kong during February 2014. Level of disaster preparedness was examined according to the possession of disaster kit items. Associations between socio-demographic factors and good household preparedness were assessed using multiple logistic regression models. Preferences for infectious disease surveillance were collected and analyzed. There were 1020 respondents. Over half of the respondents (59.2%) had good household preparedness. After adjustment, female respondents, having higher education and higher household income were significantly associated with good household preparedness. Television and telephone were the preferred channels to obtain and report infectious disease information, respectively. In conclusion, general and specific infectious-disease household preparedness levels in Hong Kong were generally good. Tailored preparedness programs targeted to specific communities are necessary for those lacking preparedness. Risk communication and public health surveillance should be conducted through television and telephone, respectively. View Full-Text

Keywords: disaster; household preparedness; infectious diseases

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Supplementary Material

Supplementary File 1:
ZIP-Document (ZIP, 138 KiB)

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Tam, G.; Huang, Z.; Chan, E.Y.Y. Household Preparedness and Preferred Communication Channels in Public Health Emergencies: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Residents in an Asian Developed Urban City. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 1598. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081598

AMA Style

Tam G, Huang Z, Chan EYY. Household Preparedness and Preferred Communication Channels in Public Health Emergencies: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Residents in an Asian Developed Urban City. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2018; 15(8):1598. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081598

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tam, Greta, Zhe Huang, and Emily Y.Y. Chan. 2018. "Household Preparedness and Preferred Communication Channels in Public Health Emergencies: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Residents in an Asian Developed Urban City" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15, no. 8: 1598. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081598

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

Household Preparedness and Preferred Communication Channels in Public Health Emergencies: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Residents in an Asian Developed Urban City

Abstract

Supplementary Material

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI