IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2024i5p521-d1381137.html

Tailoring Household Disaster Preparedness Interventions to Reduce Health Disparities: Nursing Implications from Machine Learning Importance Features from the 2018–2020 FEMA National Household Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Meghna Shukla

    (College of Nursing, Wayne State University, 5557 Cass Ave, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Taryn Amberson

    (Castner Incorporated, 1879 Whitehaven Road #150, Grand Island, NY 14072, USA
    Health Systems and Population Health School of Public Health, Department of Health Services Research, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific St., Seattle, WA 98195, USA
    Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, National Disaster Medical System, 200 Independence Ave., Washington, DC 20201, USA
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Tara Heagele

    (Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, Hunter College, The City University of New York, 425 East 25th Street, Office 427W, New York, NY 10010, USA)

  • Charleen McNeill

    (College of Nursing, University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s, Suite 140C, 874 Union Ave., Memphis, TN 38163, USA)

  • Lavonne Adams

    (Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences, Texas Christian University, TCU Box 298620, Fort Worth, TX 76129, USA)

  • Kevin Ndayishimiye

    (Castner Incorporated, 1879 Whitehaven Road #150, Grand Island, NY 14072, USA)

  • Jessica Castner

    (Castner Incorporated, 1879 Whitehaven Road #150, Grand Island, NY 14072, USA
    Health Policy, Management and Behavior, School of Public Health, University at Albany, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 14222, USA)

Abstract

Tailored disaster preparedness interventions may be more effective and equitable, yet little is known about specific factors associated with disaster household preparedness for older adults and/or those with African American/Black identities. This study aims to ascertain differences in the importance features of machine learning models of household disaster preparedness for four groups to inform culturally tailored intervention recommendations for nursing practice. A machine learning model was developed and tested by combining data from the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Federal Emergency Management Agency National Household Survey . The primary outcome variable was a composite readiness score. A total of 252 variables from 15,048 participants were included. Over 10% of the sample self-identified as African American/Black and 30.3% reported being 65 years of age or older. Importance features varied regarding financial and insurance preparedness, information seeking and transportation between groups. These results reiterate the need for targeted interventions to support financial resilience and equitable resource access. Notably, older adults with Black racial identities were the only group where TV, TV news, and the Weather Channel was a priority feature for household disaster preparedness. Additionally, reliance on public transportation was most important among older adults with Black racial identities, highlighting priority needs for equity in disaster preparedness and policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Meghna Shukla & Taryn Amberson & Tara Heagele & Charleen McNeill & Lavonne Adams & Kevin Ndayishimiye & Jessica Castner, 2024. "Tailoring Household Disaster Preparedness Interventions to Reduce Health Disparities: Nursing Implications from Machine Learning Importance Features from the 2018–2020 FEMA National Household Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(5), pages 1-23, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:5:p:521-:d:1381137
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/5/521/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/5/521/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tatyana Deryugina & David Molitor, 2020. "Does When You Die Depend on Where You Live? Evidence from Hurricane Katrina," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(11), pages 3602-3633, November.
    2. Peng Chen & Wei Zhai & Xiankui Yang, 2023. "Enhancing resilience and mobility services for vulnerable groups facing extreme weather: lessons learned from Snowstorm Uri in Harris County, Texas," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 118(2), pages 1573-1594, September.
    3. Junghwa Choi & Scott Robinson & Romit Maulik & Wesley Wehde, 2020. "What matters the most? Understanding individual tornado preparedness using machine learning," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 103(1), pages 1183-1200, August.
    4. John R. Logan & Sukriti Issar & Zengwang Xu, 2016. "Trapped in Place? Segmented Resilience to Hurricanes in the Gulf Coast, 1970–2005," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(5), pages 1511-1534, October.
    5. Kyong-Jin Park & Bong-Woo Lee & Kyoo-Man Ha, 2022. "Examining the transition of natural disaster management for climate change," International Journal of Business Continuity and Risk Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(2), pages 116-130.
    6. Sungyoon Lee & Jennifer Dodge & Gang Chen, 2022. "The cost of social vulnerability: an integrative conceptual framework and model for assessing financial risks in natural disaster management," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 114(1), pages 691-712, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shobhit Kulshreshtha & Martin Salm & Ansgar Wübker, 2025. "Health drain: the effect of internal migration on regional disparities in healthcare costs," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(3), pages 1-28, September.
    2. Bimal Kanti Paul & Munshi Khaledur Rahman & Max Lu & Thomas W. Crawford, 2022. "Household Migration and Intentions for Future Migration in the Climate Change Vulnerable Lower Meghna Estuary of Coastal Bangladesh," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Tatyana Deryugina & David Molitor, 2021. "The Causal Effects of Place on Health and Longevity," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(4), pages 147-170, Fall.
    4. Elizabeth Fussell & Sara R. Curran & Matthew D. Dunbar & Michael A. Babb & Luanne Thompson & Jacqueline Meijer-Irons, 2017. "Weather-Related Hazards and Population Change," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 669(1), pages 146-167, January.
    5. Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Knott, Rachel & Torgler, Benno, 2021. "Resilience to Disaster: Evidence from Daily Wellbeing Data," IZA Discussion Papers 14220, IZA Network @ LISER.
    6. Jerch, Rhiannon & Kahn, Matthew E. & Lin, Gary C., 2023. "Local public finance dynamics and hurricane shocks," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    7. Marijn J. Ton & Hans de Moel & Jens A. de Bruijn & Lena Reimann & Wouter J. W. Botzen & Jeroen C. J. H. Aerts, 2025. "Economic damage from natural hazards and internal migration in the United States," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 121(4), pages 4985-5005, March.
    8. Chi-Young Choi & Yu Zhang & Michelle Hummel & Qin Qian, 2025. "Reassessing the economic impacts of Hurricane Harvey on Texas: a closer look with granular analyses," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 121(5), pages 5921-5945, March.
    9. Isabelle Chort & Maëlys de la Rupelle, 2022. "Managing the impact of climate on migration: evidence from Mexico," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1777-1819, October.
    10. Néstor Aldea & Dariya Ordanovich & Alberto Palloni & Diego Ramiro & Francisco Viciana, 2023. "Influence of Place of Birth on Adult Mortality: The Case of Spain," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-22, December.
    11. Marcos Sanso-Navarro & Guillermo Peña, 2023. "Long-run effects of floods at municipality level in Spain," French Stata Users' Group Meetings 2023 29, Stata Users Group.
    12. Lin, Pengsheng & Pan, Yinghao & Wang, Yuan & Hu, Longhai, 2024. "Reshaping unfairness perceptions: Evidence from China's Hukou reform," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    13. Robert Kaestner, 2020. "Did Hurricane Katrina Reduce Mortality?," Papers 2011.03392, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2020.
    14. Ethan J. Raker, 2020. "Natural Hazards, Disasters, and Demographic Change: The Case of Severe Tornadoes in the United States, 1980–2010," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 653-674, April.
    15. Boslett, Andrew & Hill, Elaine, 2022. "Mortality during resource booms and busts," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    16. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/4bg68glinb8r8roh0akvprtu9u is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Mehic, Adrian, 2026. "Inventing Green: Environmental Shocks and the Long-Term Reorientation of Innovation," Working Paper Series 1552, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    18. Civelek, Yasin, 2023. "The effect of hurricanes on mental health over the long term," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    19. Alexander Fekete, 2025. "At Risk While on the Move—Mobility Vulnerability of Individuals and Groups in Disaster Risk Situations," Geographies, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-22, October.
    20. Currie, Janet & Kurdyak, Paul & Zhang, Jonathan, 2024. "Socioeconomic status and access to mental health care: The case of psychiatric medications for children in Ontario Canada," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    21. Shooshan Danagoulian & Thomas A. Wilk, 2022. "Locking out prevention: Dental care in the midst of a pandemic," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(9), pages 1973-1992, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:5:p:521-:d:1381137. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.