Developing a model to assess the resilience of urban health centers against disasters: a case study

Disasters are increasing globally, presenting healthcare systems with serious challenges. Providing primary health services is considered a critical necessity during disasters, and therefore, health centres can play a pivotal role in reinforcing community resilience. This study attempts to develop and present a comprehensive model through which the resilience of Urban Health Centers (UHC)s, against disasters can be evaluated. The study applied a sequential explanatory mixed-method approach. In the first stage, 32 disaster management experts were selected using purposive sampling. Following that, key resilience indicators were identified through a thorough review of the literature which were then validated by experts. Then, the resilience of UHCs in Marivan city in Iran, was assessed. Finally, SPSS and SmartPLS software were utilized to analyze the collected data. The developed resilience model comprises four main dimensions: Social, Economic, Physical, and Institutional. The effectiveness of the chosen indicators was validated through structural equation modeling, and all were within the recommended range (AVE > 0.5, CR > 0.7, CR > AVE). Among these dimensions, the institutional factor was found to have the greatest impact (0.921), followed by social (0.835), economic (0.810), and physical (0.803) factors. The study found that Marivan’s UHCs have a moderate level of resilience to disasters with a resilience score of 3.08. Therefore, there is a need for bolstering institutional capacities and economic productivity of UHCs to facilitate better preparedness and response to disasters. Furthermore, governmental bodies need to design comprehensive disaster preparedness policies, expand the scope of staff training, and provide sufficient funding for enhancing health system resilience.