Exploring elements of disaster prevention consciousness: Based on interviews with anti-disaster professionals

Many educational activities and disaster drills are conducted for the purpose of developing disaster prevention consciousness. It is necessary to develop a standardized psychological scale to measure disaster prevention consciousness; this would help evaluate the effect of activities that improve disaster prevention consciousness. To do this, a qualitative study using a Constructivist Grounded Theory Approach was conducted. First, elements of disaster prevention consciousness were explored through one-hour interviews with a total of ten disaster prevention professionals. They responded to six questions on the characteristics and behaviors of a person who seemed to possess high disaster prevention consciousness. The study yielded six elements in knowledge (ex. “Reality of disaster”), eight elements in behavior (ex. “Preparation for dis-aster”), and ten psychological elements (ex. “Over-reliance on one measure against disasters,” “Predic-tion and analysis of situations,” and “Taking a comprehensive view”). A new anti-disaster consciousness model was developed based on these elements.