IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i21p11699-d662648.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Building Community Resilience to Disasters: A Review of Interventions to Improve and Measure Public Health Outcomes in the Northeastern United States

Author

Listed:
  • Abigail Abrash Walton

    (Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience, Antioch University New England, Keene, NH 03431, USA)

  • Janine Marr

    (Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience, Antioch University New England, Keene, NH 03431, USA)

  • Matthew J. Cahillane

    (New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Concord, NH 03301, USA)

  • Kathleen Bush

    (New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Concord, NH 03301, USA)

Abstract

Climate change-related natural disasters, including wildfires and extreme weather events, such as intense storms, floods, and heatwaves, are increasing in frequency and intensity. These events are already profoundly affecting human health in the United States and globally, challenging the ability of communities to prepare, respond, and recover. The purpose of this research was to examine the peer-reviewed literature on community resilience initiatives in one of the most densely populated and economically important regions, the Northeastern United States, and to identify evidence-based interventions and metrics that had been field-tested and evaluated. This paper addresses two critical gaps in the literature: (1) what strategies or interventions have been implemented to build or enhance community resilience against climate change-related natural disasters; and (2) what metrics were used to measure community resilience as an outcome of those strategies or interventions? This review provides a succinct list of effective interventions with specific health outcomes. Community or state-level health officials can use the results to prioritize public health interventions. This review used existing database search tools to discover 205 studies related to community resilience and health outcomes. Methods set criteria to assess if interventions were able to measure and change levels of community resilience to the health impacts associated with a changing climate. Criteria included: (a) alignment with the United States’ National Preparedness Goal for reducing risks to human health and for recovering quickly from disasters; (b) derived from publicly available data sources; (c) developed for use by communities at a local scale; and (d) accessible to modestly resourced municipalities and county health agencies. Five (5) peer-reviewed, evidence-based studies met all of the selection criteria. Three of these articles described intervention frameworks and two reported on the use of standardized tools. Health-related outcomes included mental health impacts (PTSD/depression), mental stress, emergency preparedness knowledge, social capital skills, and emergency planning skills. The paper recommends the COAST project, COPEWELL Rubric for self-assessment, and Ready CDC intervention as examples of strategies that could be adapted by any community engaged in building community resilience.

Suggested Citation

  • Abigail Abrash Walton & Janine Marr & Matthew J. Cahillane & Kathleen Bush, 2021. "Building Community Resilience to Disasters: A Review of Interventions to Improve and Measure Public Health Outcomes in the Northeastern United States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-31, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11699-:d:662648
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11699/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11699/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan M. Winter & Fiona L. Bowen & Trevor F. Partridge & Jonathan W. Chipman, 2019. "Future Extreme Event Risk in the Rural Northeastern United States," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 109(4), pages 1110-1130, July.
    2. MacQueen, K.M. & McLellan, E. & Metzger, D.S. & Kegeles, S. & Strauss, R.P. & Scotti, R. & Blanchard, L. & Trotter II, R.T., 2001. "What is community? An evidence-based definition for participatory public health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 91(12), pages 1929-1938.
    3. Plough, A. & Fielding, J.E. & Chandra, A. & Williams, M. & Eisenman, D. & Wells, K.B. & Law, G.Y. & Fogleman, S. & Magaña, A., 2013. "Building community disaster resilience: Perspectives from a large urban county department of public health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(7), pages 1190-1197.
    4. Theresa M. Jedd, 2019. "The limits of resilience in US community responses to recent drought events," Community Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 141-159, March.
    5. Kelly Bergstrand & Brian Mayer & Babette Brumback & Yi Zhang, 2015. "Assessing the Relationship Between Social Vulnerability and Community Resilience to Hazards," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 122(2), pages 391-409, June.
    6. John Ryan-Henry & Austin Becker, 2020. "Port stakeholder perceptions of Sandy impacts: a case study of Red Hook, New York," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(7), pages 885-902, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maria Kasierska & Julia Suwalska & Dorota Łojko & Marta Jakubiak-Głowacka & Sławomir Tobis & Aleksandra Suwalska, 2023. "Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Polish Population in the Context of the War in Ukraine: Analysis of Risk Factors and Practical Implications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-13, September.

    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. Saud Alshehri & Yacine Rezgui & Haijiang Li, 2015. "Delphi-based consensus study into a framework of community resilience to disaster," 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. 75(3), pages 2221-2245, February.
    2. Odeya Cohen & Stav Shapira & Limor Aharonson-Daniel & Judith Shamian, 2019. "Confidence in Health-Services Availability during Disasters and Emergency Situations—Does it Matter?—Lessons Learned from an Israeli Population Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-12, September.
    3. Nicola Banwell & Shannon Rutherford & Brendan Mackey & Cordia Chu, 2018. "Towards Improved Linkage of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in Health: A Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, April.
    4. Li, Chunkai & Zhang, Qiunv & Li, Na, 2018. "Does social capital benefit resilience for left-behind children? An evidence from Mainland China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 255-262.
    5. Soo Yon Yi & Aimee Jeehae Kim, 2023. "Implementation and Strategies of Community Music Activities for Well-Being: A Scoping Review of the Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-34, January.
    6. Mikhail Rogov & Céline Rozenblat, 2018. "Urban Resilience Discourse Analysis: Towards a Multi-Level Approach to Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, November.
    7. Boeing, Philipp & Wang, Yihan, 2021. "Decoding China's Covid-19 "virus exceptionalism": Community-based digital contact tracing in Wuhan," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-028, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Virginia Araceli Feliz & Sue D. Hobbs & Rose Borunda, 2022. "Strengthen and Respect Each Thread," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-11, October.
    9. Zhixing Ma & Shili Guo & Xin Deng & Dingde Xu, 2021. "Community resilience and resident's disaster preparedness: evidence from China's earthquake-stricken areas," 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. 108(1), pages 567-591, August.
    10. Yusuke Toyoda, 2021. "Survey paper: achievements and perspectives of community resilience approaches to societal systems," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 705-756, October.
    11. Hsin-I Shih & Tzu-Yuan Chao & Yi-Ting Huang & Yi-Fang Tu & Tzu-Ching Sung & Jung-Der Wang & Chia-Ming Chang, 2020. "Increased Medical Visits and Mortality among Adults with Cardiovascular Diseases in Severely Affected Areas after Typhoon Morakot," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-16, September.
    12. M. Rezaul Islam, 2018. "Climate Change, Natural Disasters and Socioeconomic Livelihood Vulnerabilities: Migration Decision Among the Char Land People in Bangladesh," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 575-593, April.
    13. Manh Hung Do, 2023. "Saving up and diversifying income for a rainy day: Implications for households' resilience strategies and poverty," TVSEP Working Papers wp-033, Leibniz Universitaet Hannover, Institute of Development and Agricultural Economics, Project TVSEP.
    14. Kai Wang & Zhe Wang & Jun Deng & Yuanyuan Feng & Quanfang Li, 2022. "Study on the Evaluation of Emergency Management Capacity of Resilient Communities by the AHP-TOPSIS Method," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-14, December.
    15. Patrick Cheong-Iao Pang & Wenjing Jiang & Guanwen Pu & Kin-Sun Chan & Ying Lau, 2022. "Social Media Engagement in Two Governmental Schemes during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Macao," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-12, July.
    16. Maris Kalinka & Sanda Geipele & Edgars Pudzis & Andrejs Lazdins & Una Krutova & Jurijs Holms, 2020. "Indicators for the Smart Development of Villages and Neighbourhoods in Baltic Sea Coastal Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-13, June.
    17. Shiva Salehi & Ali Ardalan & Gholamreza Garmaroudi & Abbas Ostadtaghizadeh & Abbas Rahimiforoushani & Armin Zareiyan, 2019. "Climate change adaptation: a systematic review on domains and indicators," 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. 96(1), pages 521-550, March.
    18. Loredana Antronico & Maria Teresa Carone & Roberto Coscarelli, 2023. "An approach to measure resilience of communities to climate change: a case study in Calabria (Southern Italy)," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 1-28, April.
    19. Ramirez-Marquez, Jose E. & Rocco, Claudio M. & Barker, Kash & Moronta, Jose, 2018. "Quantifying the resilience of community structures in networks," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 466-474.
    20. Alan Kirschenbaum, 2021. "Reducing patient surge: community based social networks as first responders," 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. 108(1), pages 163-175, August.

    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:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11699-:d:662648. 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 (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.