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Development of a Self-Administered Questionnaire to Assess the Psychological Competencies for Surviving a Disaster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2014

Danjun Feng  and
Linqin Ji
Danjun Feng*
Affiliation:
School of Nursing, Shandong University, China
Linqin Ji
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Danjun Feng, PhD, Wenhuaxi Road 44, Jinan, Shandong, China (e-mail: fdj1978@hotmail.com).
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Abstract

Objective

To find the psychological competencies for surviving a disaster and develop a self-report questionnaire to assess them.

Methods

Interviews with 16 earthquake survivors and 16 fire fighters followed by qualitative analysis were used to find psychological competencies. Formation of the item pool, a pilot study among 20 college teachers and students, a series of principal component analyses for the data from 345 college students, and a confirmatory factor analysis for the data from 307 participants with various occupations were used to develop the Psychological Competencies for Surviving a Disaster Questionnaire (PCSDQ).

Results

We found 4 psychological competencies: risk perception of a disaster, disaster knowledge and self-relief skills, low fear in a disaster, and sense of control over a disaster. The 24-item PCSDQ assessed these psychological competencies. The Cronbach alpha of PCSDQ subscales ranged from .75 to .87.

Conclusions

The psychological competencies for surviving a disaster were found to be risk perception of a disaster, disaster knowledge and self-relief skills, low fear in a disaster, and sense of control over a disaster. Using the PCSDQ to assess a person’s psychological competencies for disaster survival will make it possible to provide that person with an individualized and targeted disaster self-relief education and/or training program. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-9)

Keywords

disasterself-reliefpsychological competencyquestionnaire
Type
Original Article
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , June 2014 , pp. 220 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2014 

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