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Validation and Revision of the Household Emergency Preparedness Instrument (HEPI) by a Pilot Study in the City University of New York

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2022

Tara N. Heagele Open the ORCID record for Tara N. Heagele [Opens in a new window] ,
Lavonne M. Adams ,
Charleen C. McNeill Open the ORCID record for Charleen C. McNeill [Opens in a new window]  and
Danita M. Alfred
Tara N. Heagele*
Affiliation:
Hunter College School of Nursing, Hunter College, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
Lavonne M. Adams
Affiliation:
Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA
Charleen C. McNeill
Affiliation:
Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Danita M. Alfred
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA
*
Corresponding author: Tara N. Heagele, Email: th1591@hunter.cuny.edu.
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Abstract

Objective:

The aim of this study was to pilot test the Household Emergency Preparedness Instrument (HEPI) with a diverse sample, allowing for assessment of reliability and validity of the instrument. The HEPI is an international, all-hazards questionnaire created to measure disaster preparedness of households, which results in data that can be used to enhance health promotion/disease prevention for individuals and promote resilience for communities.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study of faculty, staff, and students (N = 284) was completed to perform factor analysis to establish the HEPI’s construct validity and compare preparedness across groups.

Results:

The factor analysis revealed 2 dimensions of general preparedness, explaining 35% of the sample variance (Cronbach’s α = 0.89): preparedness actions and planning (α = 0.86) and disaster supplies and resources (α = 0.80). This factor analysis resulted in the revision of the subscaling of HEPI questions. Consistent with previous studies, faculty/staff, older age, higher income, and those with previous disaster experience were more prepared. The mean score was 15.28 out of 40 points.

Conclusions:

The HEPI is easy to administer and explains an acceptable amount of variance. The reliability was strong in this assessment, particularly for a pilot test. Construct, criterion, face, and content validity support the adequacy of the HEPI to capture essentials of household emergency preparedness.

Keywords

disaster planningdisastersemergency preparednessquestionnairessurveys
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 17 , 2023 , e126
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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