Disaster Resilience: Psychology and Behaviour
Here I review important psychological and behavioural responses to disaster, and highlight recommendations for building resilience in emergency response personnel, the public, communities, and business.
Overview
These articles summarise the results of a knowledge position study that aimed to define the current state of knowledge relating to psychological issues and behavioural responses to major disaster incidents, with a specific focus on CBRN disasters.
Each article identifies findings from published literature and research on the impact of incidents where chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) releases have occurred, as well as considering relevant findings and issues drawn from the wider disaster literature.
The articles focus on three main areas of concern:
First Responders
Public and Community
Business Continuity.
First responders
These articles are concerned with the literature relating to the first responders to an incident (primarily the emergency services) and discusses issues such as turnout and commitment, health and stress reactions, and communication.
- Health and Stress Reactions of First Responders
- Psychological Effects of Wearing Protective Clothing in Disaster
- Factors affecting First Responder Turnout in Disaster
- The Public as First Responders
- Communication Problems in Disaster Situations
Public and community
These articles provide wide coverage of issues relating to the public response, including evacuation behaviour, mass psychogenic illness, community recovery, and warning response.
- Community Role in Disaster Management
- Mass Psychogenic Illness
- Disaster Communication: Tips for Effective Communication
- Evacuation from CBRN Disaster Areas
- Panic in Disasters: Prevalence and Causes
- Community Response to Disaster
- The Public as First Responders
- Public Response to Disaster Warnings
Business continuity
These articles discuss business continuity issues in relation to disaster, including employee support, corporate culture, and communication issues.
Study Method
This Methods article details the process by which the literature was gathered, defines the incidents of interest and focus, lists the major incidents referred to in the report, and discusses some important caveats that apply to the articles as a whole.
Caveats regarding CBRN
Some caution needs to be used in considering the conclusions about human behaviour in the event of a CBRN incident. This Caveats article describes the major caveats relating to the study.
Bibliography
You can download the bibliography used in these articles in pdf and Endnote format together with other Disaster resilience resources here.
You can also download resources we created for our disaster projects, including PDF articles, bibliographies in text and EndNote formats, and survey items we have used in our research.