The Development and Validation of Disaster Response Competency Profile Indices

Abstract

This study aimed to identify observable and measurable traits that were shared among highly competent disaster responders, to construct screening instruments that assess disaster responder competencies, and to examine the construct as well as predictive validity of the instruments. Focus group interviews of competent disaster responders were conducted in order to capture statements that typified their characteristics. Conceptual clustering of the statements produced three distinct categories, and they were found being associated with three major disaster response functions: 1) incident commander, 2) management staff (intelligence, planning, and logistics), and 3) operations personnel. The following cross-validation interviews formed the basis from which to construct a preliminary multiple-choice instrument as well as two other types. Three different instruments measuring three different competencies were then administered to fifty disaster responders, and thirty-three questionnaires were returned. This provided multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) data and the structural equation modeling (SEM) validated the construct validity of the scales, which were named the Disaster Response Competency Profile Indices (DRCPI). The second study compared simulated disaster responses performed by the most competent teams of incident commander, management staff, and operations personnel, as determined by means of the instrument, with those performed by the least competent. The team results were successfully predicted by the DRCPI.