The Development and Initial Validation of the Citizen Disaster Communication Assessment

Current U.S. federal disaster management approaches advocate for citizens to engage in local efforts to cope with the negative consequences of disasters. In line with this approach, this project develops and validates the Citizen Disaster Communication Assessment (CDCA), which is a comprehensive survey instrument measuring individuals’ communication across disaster phases. The CDCA development process occurred over three studies. Study 1 consisted of assessment item generation and expert review. Study 2 determined the dimensionality of citizen disaster communication. Study 3 surveyed three communities experiencing different disaster phases in order to confirm the CDCA factor structure. Results (a) demonstrate evidence of an empirically derived citizen disaster communication measure and (b) inform current understanding of how citizens’ communication can participate in community disaster management. Future research should use the CDCA in other diverse communities to further validate the measure and to provide additional insight into the structural and sociodemographic factors influencing disaster communication.

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