Improved Knowledge of Disaster Preparedness in Underrepresented Secondary Students: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

BACKGROUND: Disasters cause significant human and monetary destruction and society as a whole is underprepared to address them. Disaster preparedness education is not covered extensively enough for health professionals or for the general public. METHODS: A disaster preparedness education intervention was performed using a non-randomized controlled trial of a convenience sample with a pre- and post-intervention survey. The adapted Emergency Preparedness Information Questionnaire (EPIQ), a validated survey tool, was utilized. Participants came from a health professions educational enrichment program for students from under-resourced high schools in the Kansas City area. RESULTS: The experimental group shows statistically significant improvement in knowledge of disaster topics post-intervention. Of 18 adapted EPIQ tool questions, 17 show statistically significant improvement in disaster knowledge post-intervention for the experimental group with significance set at p < .05 (range of significant p values .000-.017). CONCLUSIONS: The education intervention was effective and cost-efficient. Disaster preparedness education should be included in THE secondary school curriculum.