To promote equity for intersectionally disaster-vulnerable individuals and address three literature gaps: (1) incremental effects of collective and self-efficacy as preparedness predictors, (2) differentiation of fear and perceived severity of a disaster, and (3) clarification of the relationship between fear and preparedness.

Due to infection risks associated with communal housing, early in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, many universities permitted students to remain in campus housing only if they were housing insecure, including many international students. We surveyed intersectionally-vulnerable students and their partners at a southeast US university, N = 54, who were international (77.8%), Asian (55.6%), and/or housing insecure at baseline (79.6%). In 14 waves from May–October 2020, we assessed pandemic preparedness/response behaviors (PPRBs) and potential PPRB predictors.

We examined within- and between-person effects of fear, perceived severity, collective efficacy, and self-efficacy on PPRBs. Within-person perceived severity and collective efficacy both significantly, positively predicted greater PPRBs. All effects of fear and self-efficacy were not significant.

Perceived severity and confidence that one’s actions positively impact one’s community fluctuated throughout the pandemic and are linked to greater PPRB engagement. Public health messages and interventions to improve PPRB may benefit from emphasizing collective efficacy and accuracy over fear.

Firefighters represent an important population for understanding the consequences of exposure to potentially traumatic stressors.

The researchers were interested in the effects of pre-employment disaster exposure on firefighter recruits’ depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms during the first three years of fire service and hypothesized that: (1) disaster-exposed firefighters would have greater depression and PTSD symptoms than non-exposed overall; and (2) depression and PTSD symptoms would worsen over years in fire service in exposed firefighters, but not in their unexposed counterparts.

In a baseline interview, 35 male firefighter recruits from seven US cities reported lifetime exposure to natural disaster. These disaster-exposed male firefighter recruits were matched on age, city, and education with non-exposed recruits.

A generalized linear mixed model revealed a significant exposure×time interaction (e coef =1.04; P<.001), such that depression symptoms increased with time for those with pre-employment disaster exposure only. This pattern persisted after controlling for social support from colleagues (e coefficient=1.05; P<.001), social support from families (e coefficient=1.04; P=.001), and on-the-job trauma exposure (coefficient=0.06; e coefficient=1.11; P<.001). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms did not vary significantly between exposure groups at baseline (P=.61).

Depression symptoms increased with time for those with pre-employment disaster exposure only, even after controlling for social support. Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms did not vary between exposure groups.

Pennington ML , Carpenter TP , Synett SJ , Torres VA , Teague J , Morissette SB , Knight J , Kamholz BW , Keane TM , Zimering RT , Gulliver SB . The Influence of Exposure to Natural Disasters on Depression and PTSD Symptoms among Firefighters. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(1):102–108.