See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/350630754

Effectiveness of Training Program on Community Based Psychosocial Disaster

Preparedness for Community Volunteers

Article · December 2017

CITATIONS READS

0 159

4 authors:

Debashree Bora Manjunatha Shivarudraiah

National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences
7 PUBLICATIONS   3 CITATIONS    7 PUBLICATIONS   0 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Elangovan Aravind Raj Sekar Kasi

National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences
36 PUBLICATIONS   274 CITATIONS    1 PUBLICATION   0 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

School based intervention for healthy lifestyle of adolescents View project

Fellowship in Psychosocial Support in Disaster Management View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Manjunatha Shivarudraiah on 10 April 2021.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

Effectiveness of Training Program on Community Based Psychosocial Disaster Preparedness for

Community Volunteers
1Debashree Bora, 2Shivarudraiah Manjunatha,
3Elangovan Aravind Raj, 4 Kasi Sekar, 5Mathai Kutti John

Introduction: India is a country which has been identified as one of the six major disaster prone
countries in the world. It is extremely important to draft a holistic approach to avert and
devise plans to mitigate the effects of disaster. Disaster risk reduction strategies play an
important role. In this context, communities being the first responders in any disaster, it is
imperative to build their capacity in disaster preparedness programs. National Institute of
Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in collaboration with World Vision India has
taken the initiative of training the community volunteers on psychosocial disaster
preparedness.
Methodology: A total of 186 community members from 15 clusters of World Vision field areas
were trained in five batches for three days each at NIMHANS on psychosocial disaster
preparedness. The content of the program included impact, vulnerability, resource mapping,
the role of volunteers and task force formation. A 30-item checklist was used to assess the
effectiveness of the training program. Qualitative assessment was also carried out in the form
of feedback sheet about the content, methodology and usefulness of the program.
Results: The socio-demographic profile of the participants included equal distribution of men
and women with their ages ranging from 18-60 years. The assessment showed a significant
difference in the level of knowledge on psychosocial disaster preparedness among the
community volunteers after the training program. The qualitative assessment also showed that
the program was useful and informative as most of the participants were attending such a
program for the first time.
Conclusion: Building the capacity of the community in psychosocial disaster preparedness
would help the community to be better prepared to face the hazards and reduce the
vulnerability in the community.
Keywords: Disaster Preparedness, Community volunteers, Training Program, Assessment.

1 M.Phil, Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi,
Regional Institute of Mental Health, Tezpur (Assam) Email: [email protected]
2 M.Phil, Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, National Institute of Mental Health
and Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru. Email: [email protected]
3 Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, National Institute of Mental Health and
Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru. Email: [email protected]
4 Professor, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro
Sciences, Bengaluru. Email: [email protected]
5 Senior Manager, World Vision India Bengaluru. Email: [email protected]

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

INTRODUCTION

India is a homeland to various communities and all the communities share their common
geographical location. It also needs to be considered that India is a country which has been
identified as one of the six major disaster- prone countries in the world (Mohapatra, Mandal,
Bandyopadhyay, Tyagi, & Mohanty, 2012). These disasters may be a result of a rapid change in
geographical areas with urbanization, industrial growth and deforestation. Natural disasters
like tsunamis, earthquakes, droughts and landslides as well as manmade disasters such as the
Bhopal gas tragedy and serial bomb-blasts have resulted in tremendous loss to the nation’s
economy. A disaster’s social impacts can be characterized and defined in several ways. A
disaster is a sudden, devastating event that brings great damage, loss, destruction and
desolation to life and property. The damage caused by a disaster is incalculable and varies
with the geographical location, climate and the type of the earth surface (Lone & Subramani,
2016).

The impact on the victims of any disaster could be classified by its physical, psychological, social
and economic impact. The risk to a community depends on its vulnerability (Sekar, 2005).
Considering the gross damage to life and properties, it is important to realize that one should
be preparing to face any kind of disaster in order to reduce the loss as well as ensuring
enhance security (Yesmin & Baruah, 2014). Here the concept of “Disaster Preparedness”
arises. The knowledge from previous experiences of loss due to disaster by people creates
valuable insight into community subjected to frequent disasters and provides a platform for
community assistance as well as recovery programs (West, Woods, Casella, & Usher, 2015).
Thus, it is extremely important to draft a holistic approach to avert and devise plans to mitigate
the effects of a disaster in community level. Disaster risk reduction strategies play an important
role. In this context, community being the first responders in any disaster, it is very imperative
to build their capacity in disaster preparedness programs. Community based disaster
preparedness is considered as a holistic approach to prevent, prepare and meet the mitigation
plans and response (Revi, 2008). Raising awareness increases the community effort to be self-
prepared and to reduce disaster risks as well as to combat insufficient preparedness to reduce
future disaster damage (Onuma, Shin, & Managi, 2016).

Vulnerability and Resource Mapping of those common geographical areas to identify the
community resources, the possible hazards or risk, the necessary needs should be assessed.
Here the most vulnerable group also includes women, children, elderly and handicapped
people. An organized course of actions is needed to be carried out by the community
volunteers and thus Community Based Task-Force group be formed and trained by experts.

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

The effectiveness of preparedness training program was found positive in many foreign
countries such as Japan, Kenya etc (Banerji, 2013 and Burke, 2014). A study conducted by
Newport and Jawahar (2003) in rural India showed a positive outcome of the community in
resource identification, capabilities, coping mechanisms and vulnerability assessment.

National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in collaboration with
World Vision India has taken the initiative to train the community volunteers from slum areas
on psychosocial disaster preparedness. The study aimed to explore participant’s knowledge,
both subjectively and objectively, through qualitative and quantitative evaluation. The study
aimed to train the community volunteers on psychosocial disaster preparedness and create a
task force group as a part of disaster risk reduction strategies.

The Objectives of the study were to impart knowledge on psychosocial disaster preparedness
to community volunteers through a three-day training program and to assess their knowledge
before and after the training program.

METHODOLOGY

The training program was conducted in five batches at Department of Psychiatric Social Work,
NIMHANS, Bengaluru.

Sample: A total number of 186 volunteers from 15 clusters consisting of 26 localities were part of
the training program out of which a total of 118 volunteers who were present for all the three
days of the training program as well as the pre and post assessment were considered as the final
sample for the current study.

Table 1: Cluster wise localities and volunteers

Cluster No. Number of localities Number of volunteers

1 2 10
2 2 10
3 2 10
4 3 10
5 1 8
6 1 7

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

7 1 9
8 2 13
9 1 13
10 3 14
11 2 17
12 2 15
13 2 15
14 1 22
15 1 13
Total=15 Total=26 Total=186

Table 2: Sample of the study

Number of volunteers who

Batch Final sample for the study
participated in the training
program
1 41 19
2 31 27
3 31 23
4 49 25
5 34 24
Total = 5 Total = 186 Total = 118

Content of the Training Program

The content of the program included understanding of disaster, impact of disaster, circle of
support, vulnerability and resource mapping, reactions due to stress, family life cycle, working
with children, formation of task force groups, multiplicity of roles as a task force member and
care for caregiver.

Participatory methodologies were used in the training program and it included brainstorming,
demonstration, information providing, role play, games and discussions, resource and hazard
mapping.
Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017
 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

Table 3: Details of the Community-Based Disaster Preparedness Training Program

Session No Topic Methodology Duration

Day 1
1 Introduction Lecture 15 minutes

2 Participants profile and pre-assessment Brainstorming 45 minutes

3 Understanding Disaster Brainstorming 40 minutes

4 Sharing of experiences Individual activity 45 minutes
5 Impact of Disaster Group discussion 30 minutes
6 Need of the survivor Game 30 minutes
7 Concept of loss Brain Storming 50 minutes
Day 2
8 Recap of previous day Discussion 30 minutes
9 Visibility and invisibility Activity 15 minutes
10 Understanding the experiences of stress Card Sorting 40 minutes
11 Family life cycle Brainstorming 45 minutes
Activity/Games/ 45 minutes
12 Techniques of Psychosocial Care
discussions
13 Spectrum of care Brainstorming 30 minutes
14 Resource & hazard mapping Group Activity - Drawing 30 minutes
Day 3
15 Free listing of children’s problems Discussion, explanations 30 minutes
Understanding emotional reactions of the 40 minutes
16 Group discussion
children
17 Regression Activity /Discussion 20 minutes
18 Stress management sessions Discussion/Brainstorming 20 minutes
Orientation visit to the different 45 minute
19 Institute Visit
departments in NIMHANS

Listing out of Task Force Group 15 minutes

20 Group Discussion
members
Discussion on emergency numbers at 30 minutes
21 Presentation
various levels
22 Feedback 10 minutes
23 Post assessment 30 minutes

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

Tools for Data Collection:

1. Participant profile that included personal, educational and occupational details as well as
the past training programs they attended was used to record the socio- demographic
profile of the participants.

2. A checklist that consisted of 30 items with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ response was used to assess the
knowledge of the volunteers before and after the training program. The contents of the
questionnaire were about understanding disaster, disaster preparedness, impact of
disaster, importance of community preparedness, psychological first aid in disaster,
mental health problems, role of family in preparedness, post-disaster family reunion,
disaster rescue operation, importance of psychiatrists, vulnerability mapping, vulnerable
groups, psychosocial preparedness, community action, mental health of caregivers, social
cohesion, normal reactions to disaster, psychological counseling, taskforce in disaster,
awareness of emergency numbers.

3. Qualitative assessment was also carried out in the form of a feedback sheet about the
overall contents, methodology and usefulness of the program.

Statistical Analysis:

Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, measures of central tendency were carried
out to describe the data. McNemar test and Student t test was used to compare the item wise
and overall score of the participants respectively on the check list before and after the training
program. The feedback of the participants is presented as verbatim.

RESULTS

A majority of the participants (68.6%) belonged to the age group of 15 – 30 years. 39.8%
participants had higher secondary education. Less than 5% of participants had no formal
schooling and similarly participants who were educated up to postgraduation represented the
least. The group was marginally over represented by females (55.1%). The occupational
profile of participants shows that, half of the participants did not specify their occupational
status. Other categories mainly included auto driver, civil work, clinic, cook, driver, garment
worker, hospital worker, house keeper, household work, painting and plumber.

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

Table 4: Item-wise effectiveness of Intervention

S. 1 2 3 4
ITEM p value
No N % N % N % N %

1 Concept of disaster
14 11.9 29 24.6 6 5.1 69 58.5 p<0.001*
preparedness

2 Measures of preparedness 10 8.5 32 27.1 9 7.6 67 56.8 p<0.001*

3 Impact of disaster 12 10.2 22 18.6 22 18.6 62 52.5 p>0.05

4 Response to disaster 9 7.6 26 22.0 27 22.9 56 47.5 p>0.05

5 Importance of preparedness 31 26.3 30 25.4 11 9.3 46 39.0 0.004*

6 Preparedness and outcome at

12 10.2 19 16.1 19 16.1 68 57.6 p>0.05
crisis event

7 Psychosocial first aid 26 22.0 28 23.7 17 14.4 47 39.8 p>0.05

8 Mental health problems 34 28.8 23 19.5 28 23.7 33 28.0 p>0.05

9 Measures of family 5 4.2 25 21.2 18 15.3 70 59.3 p>0.05

10 Family reunion 2 1.7 25 21.2 12 10.2 79 66.9 p>0.05

11 Specific group concept 33 28.0 26 22.0 20 16.9 39 33.1 p>0.05

12 Understanding need of
87 73.7 13 11.0 15 12.7 3 2.5 p>0.05
mental health

13 Vulnerability mapping 1 .8 24 20.3 11 9.3 82 69.5 p<0.001*

14 Disaster preparedness
20 16.9 28 23.7 18 15.3 52 44.1 p>0.05
and death toll

15 Vulnerable groups 26 22.0 32 27.1 25 21.2 35 29.7 p>0.05

16 Volunteer groups 0 .0 15 12.7 5 4.2 98 83.1 p<0.001*

17 Psychosocial preparedness 2 1.7 13 11.0 9 7.6 94 79.7 p>0.05

18 Community action 5 4.2 29 24.6 13 11.0 71 60.2 p>0.05

19 Children and disaster 27 22.9 35 29.7 21 17.8 35 29.7 p<0.001*

20 Mental health of care givers 19 16.1 29 24.6 16 13.6 54 45.8 p>0.05

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

21 Adult’s disaster 24 20.3 33 28.0 20 16.9 41 34.7 p>0.05

preparedness
22 Help of PS preparedness 1 .8 16 13.6 11 9.3 90 76.3 p>0.05
in to identify mental
illness.

23 Building social cohesion 4 3.4 19 16.1 5 4.2 90 76.3 p<0.001*

24 Taskforces types in disaster 8 6.8 22 18.6 14 11.9 74 62.7 p>0.05

25 Psychological counseling 36 30.5 27 22.9 25 21.2 30 25.4 p>0.05

26 Taskforces types in disaster 5 4.2 66 55.9 4 3.4 43 36.4 p<0.001*

27 Disaster help line number 5 4.2 59 50.0 2 1.7 52 44.1 p<0.001*

28 Emergency Numbers 10 8.5 64 54.2 9 7.6 35 29.7 p<0.001*

29 Everyone is affected by 1 .8 19 16.1 4 3.4 94 79.7 p<0.001*

a disaster

30 Believe in rumors 3 2.5 21 17.8 18 15.3 76 64.4 p>0.05

1 – Wrong answer in the pre and post assessment

2 – Wrong answer in the pre assessment, right answer in the post assessment 3-

Right answer in the pre assessment, wrong answer in the post assessment 4- Right

answer in the pre and post assessment

*significant at 0.05 level

Table 4 shows the results of the item wise analysis of the checklist to find out the
effectiveness of the training program. McNemar test was used to find out the item wise
effectiveness of training program. In items such as concept of disaster preparedness,
measures of preparedness, importance of preparedness, vulnerability mapping, importance of
volunteer groups, children in disaster, social cohesion, task force, emergency numbers, the
percentage of participants’ whose knowledge level increased in the post assessment
compared to the pre assessment were found to be significantly high (p<0.05) compared to
that of the percentage of participants’ whose knowledge level decreased in the post

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

assessment compared to the pre assessment.

Table 5: Pre and Post Training assessment

Mean
SD t df Sig (2-tailed)
(n = 118)
Pre intervention 18.80 3.1
-8.893 117 <0.001
Post 22.32 2.9
intervention

Table 5 shows the result of the paired t test to find out the significant difference in the mean
of the overall score before and after the interventions. The results show that there is a
significant difference in the mean score of the participants before and after the intervention
(t=8.893, df = 117, p<0.05). The mean score in the post assessment (22.32) was significantly
higher than the mean score of the pre assessment (18.80).

Feedback from the Participants:

• “This is the first of its kind training program related to psychosocial disaster
preparedness we are attending.”

• “It was a wonderful opportunity for us to learn about the various aspects of psychosocial
disaster preparedness and before the training program, we did not know that so many
things are there in Disaster Management.”

• “The methodology was very participatory and it helped us to understand the concepts of
psychosocial disaster preparedness easily.”

• “The content of the training program would be really helpful and handy for us in the
field whenever a disaster strikes our community.”

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

DISCUSSION

As a majority of the participants were in the age group of 15 – 45 years, the participation of the
trained personnel in Community-Based Disaster preparedness activities in the community can
be more sustainable as they would be delivering the services for a long time. Also, except for
about 5% of the participants, all of them were literate which would facilitate the volunteers to
steer the program effectively in the community. The gender representation is also equally
important in creating the trained manpower in the community. In this regard, the participants of
the current training program included an almost equal number of males and females which
would enable them to address issues of both men and women during disasters.

The content of the training program was designed basically to address not only the
psychosocial issues but also general preparedness at community level which would facilitate
in integrating psychosocial care in Community-Based Disaster-Preparedness Programs. This
allowed the trained personnel as well as other identified volunteers in the community to give
importance to all aspects of impacts of disaster including psychosocial issues.

The participatory methodology used in the training program helped the participants to easily
get in to the training mode and adapt themselves to the situation. It also helped them to break
the hesitation to participate in various activities as each one of the participants was given a
chance to participate in one or the other activity.

The results of the current training program have proved that the participant has benefitted
from the training program as proved in the past by Newport & Jawahar(2003) thus creating a
caring community with efforts to sustain the inputs given in the training program. This can well
be done by the task force groups formed during the training program by forming a
community-based disaster preparedness plan.

The participants were enrolled in different task force groups that included early warning and
communication, search and rescue, first aid, relief and coordination and shelter management
groups. The task force members would be involved in strengthening their task force by
identifying and training the volunteers in the community. This would help in institutionalizing
the community-based disaster preparedness program in the community.

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

The exposure of facilities like NIMHANS to participants by conducting the training program
in the campus helped the participants to have a firsthand knowledge about the treatment
facilities available for mental health issues at a tertiary institute which would address issues
such as stigma towards treatment of mental illness among the members of the community
through the trained volunteers. Placing local communities at the centre of Disaster
Management is a strategy to achieving progressively higher levels of resilience to disasters.

When a community is prepared to face any disaster-related challenge, the impact of the disaster
would be comparatively less than a community which is not at all prepared. For example,
Odisha earlier faced huge losses of lives and properties due to the super cyclone in 1999 which
has significantly reduced over years due to its effective community-based disaster plans. So,
community based disaster preparation including mitigation plans to reduce the risk would be
beneficial to all the community people living in a disaster- prone country like India.

IMPLICATIONS

The study is of much importance in the present day context as community-based awareness,
preparation and planning make us manage the potential hazard effectively. It helps individuals
and the families to face the disasters efficiently. The present study is an indicator to say that
education and awareness makes the community more aware and educated about disaster
preparedness. At the macro level, such training programs, where psychosocial care is integrated
with other capacity building programs in the community, should be made a part of the
guidelines of disaster management.

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

Limitations of the current study:

1. The approach used in this study is not a true measure of effectiveness. To test the
effectiveness, we need to use the randomized controlled trial study design or step- wedge
design.

2. It will be more effective to train the group based on homogeneity such as similar age,
gender to discuss the gender-based issues and explore in detail. This is because many a time
sensitive issues are not discussed in a heterogeneous groups.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of the training program was a holistic approach to train the community
volunteers to prepare contingency plans for future disasters. The entire contents of the
training program for disaster preparedness included participatory methodologies in the form
of games and group discussions related to the sessions, which made the participants more
attentive and helped them to grasp the basic understanding of the perspective of the training
program.

Building the capacity of the community in psychosocial disaster preparedness would help the
community to be better prepared to face the hazards and reduce the vulnerability in the
community.

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

 National Journal of Professional Social Work (NJPSW)

REFERENCES

Banerji, Priyanka. (2013). Comparative Analysis of Disaster Management

between Japan & India. IOSR JOURNAL of BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT. 13. 62-74.
10.9790/487X- 1366274.

https://www.preventionweb.net/english/hyogo/gar/2015/en/bgdocs/IASC_
WFP,%202014.pdf

Lone R. I., & Subramani, S. (2016). Natural Disasters: Causes, Consequences and Its
Preventive Role in Sustainable Development. The INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL of INDIAN Psychology,
Volume 3, Issue 3, No. 4, 57.

Mohapatra, M., Mandal, G., Bandyopadhyay, B., Tyagi, A., & Mohanty, U. (2012).
Classification of cyclone hazard prone districts of India. Natural hazards, 63(3), 1601-1620.

Newport J. K., & Jawahar, G. G. (2003). Community participation and public

awareness in disaster mitigation. Disaster PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT: AN
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, 12(1), 33-36.

Onuma H., Shin, K. J., & Managi, S. (2016). Household preparedness for natural disasters:
Impact of disaster experience and implications for future disaster risks in Japan. INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL of Disaster Risk REDUCTION.

Revi A. (2008). Climate change risk: an adaptation and mitigation agenda for
Indian cities. ENVIRONMENT AND URBANIZATION, 20(1), 207-229.

Sekar K., Bhadra S., Jayakumar C., Aravind Raj E., Henry G., and Kumar, K.V.K.(2005a).
Psychosocial care IN disaster MANAGEMENT. FACILITATION MANUAL for TRAINERS TRAINEES IN NATURAL

disasters. Bengaluru:NIMHANS.

West C., Woods, C., Casella, E., & Usher, K. (2015). Disaster PREPAREDNESS:
COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS & impact: 2013–2014 tropical CYCLONE SEASON (Vol. 2): James

Cook University.

Yesmin F., & Baruah, R. (2014). Tackling disasters… Are we prepared? INDIAN JOURNAL of
COMMUNITY MEDICINE: official PUBLICATION OF INDIAN ASSOCIATION OF PREVENTIVE & Social MEDICINE,
40(1), 67-68.

Volume-18, Issue 1-2, January - December 2017

View publication stats