Understanding the context: The value of community engagement in bushfire risk communication and education. Observations following the East Coast Tasmania bushfires of December 2006

Prior, TD; Paton, D

Understanding the context: The value of community engagement in bushfire risk communication and education. Observations following the East Coast Tasmania bushfires of December 2006

Prior, TD Paton, D

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Publisher:: Massey University
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Australiasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, 2008, 2 (1), pp. 1 - 14
Issue Date:: 2008-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Prior, TD	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Paton, D	en_US
dc.date.issued	2008-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Australiasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, 2008, 2 (1), pp. 1 - 14	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1174-4707	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/9698
dc.description.abstract	Bushfire risk communication and education are the primary mechanisms used by emergency managers to increase resilience and recovery from bushfires. Generally these agencies utilise mass communication techniques to provide targeted and standardised information to at-risk members of the community. These techniques are unable to accommodate the variability between communities, particularly the situational characteristics of the community and the resulting context in which risk communication messages are interpreted by those communities. This observational study, carried out after a severe bushfire on the east coast of Tasmania, revealed how situational characteristics of the community influence preparedness, agency trust, and sense of community. These results suggest it is necessary to couple mass communication techniques with community engagement to overcome the influence of situational characteristics, thereby encouraging collective preparedness, ensuring the correct interpretation of risk communication messages, and engendering confidence and trust in those organisations that communicate bushfire risk information.	en_US
dc.publisher	Massey University	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Australiasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Social Psychology	en_US
dc.title	Understanding the context: The value of community engagement in bushfire risk communication and education. Observations following the East Coast Tasmania bushfires of December 2006	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	2	en_US
utslib.for	1702 Cognitive Sciences	en_US
utslib.for	1103 Clinical Sciences	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)/Institute For Sustainable Futures
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	false	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.volume	2	en_US

Abstract:

Bushfire risk communication and education are the primary mechanisms used by emergency managers to increase resilience and recovery from bushfires. Generally these agencies utilise mass communication techniques to provide targeted and standardised information to at-risk members of the community. These techniques are unable to accommodate the variability between communities, particularly the situational characteristics of the community and the resulting context in which risk communication messages are interpreted by those communities. This observational study, carried out after a severe bushfire on the east coast of Tasmania, revealed how situational characteristics of the community influence preparedness, agency trust, and sense of community. These results suggest it is necessary to couple mass communication techniques with community engagement to overcome the influence of situational characteristics, thereby encouraging collective preparedness, ensuring the correct interpretation of risk communication messages, and engendering confidence and trust in those organisations that communicate bushfire risk information.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/9698