Doctoral Dissertation Research: Perceptions of and Intentions toward Tornado Sheltering Strategies of Mobile Home Residents

这个博士论文研究改进项目调查的态度和信念举行的移动的家庭居民采取住房从龙卷风。移动的家庭居民受到龙卷风的影响不成比例。他们占美国人口的6%，但占龙卷风死亡人数的45%。以前的研究调查了人们对龙卷风的了解以及他们如何感知龙卷风的危险。该项目采取了不同的方法，重点是人们对庇护战略的了解以及他们如何看待这些行动在预防伤害方面的有效性。例如，那些认为自己无法采取足够的行动来保护自己免受龙卷风袭击的人可能会对庇护行为产生负面态度。这种消极的态度会导致他们忽视警告，使自己面临更大的龙卷风风险。这个项目的第一个目标是确定一些常见的态度和信念，在移动的家庭社区内的龙卷风庇护。这将通过对南卡罗来纳州移动的住宅居民的一系列采访来实现，南卡罗来纳州的移动的住宅在住房部门与美国其他任何州一样突出。访谈结束后，将向南卡罗来纳州随机居住的移动的家庭单位邮寄一份调查问卷;这将为该项目的其余目标提供数据。第二个目标是发现某些类型的态度和信仰是否在不同的人口阶层中更为普遍。例如，该研究将调查性别、年龄、种族和民族、家庭结构、教育、流动性和其他几个因素，以确定这些因素与躲避龙卷风的态度和信念之间的关系。本计画亦将研究居住在不同地理位置的移动的住家居民是否有不同的龙卷风遮蔽策略。许多移动的住宅位于市区内或市区附近，在包含数十个单元的移动的住宅园区内。然而，在农村地区也有大量的移动的住房，这些住房是位于道路较少和附近有坚固结构的地区的单点单元。这个项目的最终目标是找出当龙卷风威胁时，移动的家庭居民打算做什么，并了解上面讨论的哪些因素在他们决定做什么时是最重要的。这将有助于为移动的住宅居民如何制定龙卷风避难计划并采取行动或为什么他们没有这样做建立一个概念框架。该项目通过提高认识和教育来减少龙卷风造成的移动的住宅中的死亡和受伤人数，从而造福社会。访谈和问卷调查数据将提供给对龙卷风避难问题感兴趣的研究人员和从业人员。这项研究的结果将在国家气象局的气象学家、联邦、州和地方机构的应急管理人员以及其他研究人员参加的全国性会议上公布。调查结果将为新的教育和推广计划提供信息，并有助于改善公众与应急管理和气象部门之间的沟通。在这项研究中使用的方法将提供一个例子，为今后的工作，调查移动的家庭居民龙卷风避难在美国其他地区。作为博士论文研究改进奖，这项研究还提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个职业生涯作为一个独立的研究人员。

This Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement project investigates the attitudes and beliefs held by mobile home residents about taking shelter from tornadoes. Mobile home residents are disproportionately affected by tornadoes. They make up about 6% of the population of the United States, but account for about 45% of tornado deaths. Previous studies investigated what people knew about tornadoes or how they perceived danger from tornadoes. This project takes a different approach and focuses on what people know about sheltering strategies and how they perceive the effectiveness of those actions in preventing harm. For example, people who believe they are not able to carry out sufficient actions to protect themselves from a tornado may develop negative attitudes toward sheltering behavior. Such negative attitudes can lead them to ignore warnings and put themselves at greater risk from tornadoes. The first goal of this project is to identify a few common sets of attitudes and beliefs about tornado sheltering within mobile home communities. This will be accomplished by a series of interviews with mobile home residents in South Carolina, where mobile homes are as prominent in the housing sector as any other state in the United States. After the interviews, a questionnaire will be mailed to random occupied mobile home units in South Carolina; this will provide data for the remaining goals of the project. A second goal is to discover if certain types of attitudes and beliefs are more prevalent in different sectors of the population. For example, the study will investigate gender, age, race and ethnicity, family structure, education, mobility, and several other factors to determine how these relate to attitudes and beliefs about taking shelter from tornadoes. This project will also research whether mobile home residents living in different geographic situations have different tornado sheltering strategies. Many mobile homes are situated in and near urban areas within mobile home parks containing dozens of units. However, there are also large numbers of mobile homes in rural areas which are single-sited units situated in areas with fewer roads and nearby sturdy structures. The final goal of this project is to find out what mobile home residents intend to do when tornadoes threaten, and to understand which factors discussed above are most important in their decisions as to what to do. This will enable the building of a conceptual framework for how mobile home residents develop tornado sheltering plans and take action, or why they fail to do so.This project benefits society by fostering awareness and education to reduce the number of deaths and injuries in mobile homes as a result of tornadoes. The interview and questionnaire data will be made available to researchers and practitioners interested in the issue of tornado sheltering. Results of the study will be presented at national meetings attended by meteorologists from the National Weather Service, emergency managers from federal, state, and local agencies, and other researchers. The findings will inform new education and outreach programs, as well as aid in improving communication between the public and those in the emergency management and meteorology sectors. The methodologies used in this study will provide an example for future work to investigate mobile home resident tornado sheltering in other regions of the United States. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this study also provides support enabling a promising student to establish a career as an independent researcher.