Objectives: To investigate specific challenges to Hong Kong’s capacity for effective disaster response, we assessed perceived barriers to evacuation and citizens’ self-efficacy. Methods: Global positioning system software was used to determine random sampling locations across Hong Kong, weighted by population density. The resulting sample of 1023 participants (46.5% female, mean age 40.74 years) were invited to complete questionnaires on emergency preparedness, barriers to evacuation and self-efficacy. Latent profile analysis and multinomial logistic regression were used to identify self-efficacy profiles and predictors of profile membership. Results: Only 11% of the sample reported feeling prepared to respond to a disaster. If asked to evacuate in an emergency, 41.9% of the sample cited significant issues that would preclude them from doing so. Self-efficacy was negatively associated with barriers to disaster response so that participants reporting higher levels of self-efficacy cited fewer perceived barriers to evacuation. Conclusions: Hong Kong has established effective strategies for emergency response, but concerns regarding evacuation and mobilisation remain. The findings indicate that improving self-efficacy for disaster response has potential to increase evacuation readiness.
CITATION STYLE
Newnham, E. A., Balsari, S., Lam, R. P. K., Kashyap, S., Pham, P., Chan, E. Y. Y., … Leaning, J. (2017). Self-efficacy and barriers to disaster evacuation in Hong Kong. International Journal of Public Health, 62(9), 1051–1058. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-017-1036-8
Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.