title: Examining Public Health Workers' Perceptions Toward Participating in Disaster Recovery After Hurricane Sandy: A Quantitative Assessment.
abstract: We aimed to quantitatively gauge local public health workers' perceptions toward disaster recovery role expectations among jurisdictions in New Jersey and Maryland affected by Hurricane Sandy.
  
  
  
  An online survey was made available in 2014 to all employees in 8 Maryland and New Jersey local health departments whose jurisdictions had been impacted by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. The survey included perceptions of their actual disaster recovery involvement across 3 phases: days to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. The survey also queried about their perceptions about future involvement and future available support.
  
  
  
  Sixty-four percent of the 1047 potential staff responded to the survey (n=669). Across the 3 phases, 72% to 74% of the pre-Hurricane Sandy hires knew their roles in disaster recovery, 73% to 75% indicated confidence in their assigned roles (self-efficacy), and 58% to 63% indicated that their participation made a difference (response efficacy). Of the respondents who did not think it likely that they would be asked to participate in future disaster recovery efforts (n=70), 39% indicated a willingness to participate.
  
  
  
  The marked gaps identified in local public health workers' awareness of, sense of efficacy toward, and willingness to participate in disaster recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy represent a significant infrastructural concern of policy and programmatic relevance. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:371-377).
authors.affiliation: 1Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,Department of Health Policy and Management,Baltimore,Maryland.
authors.forename: Nicole A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Errett
authors.affiliation: 2Department of Biostatistics,Baltimore,Maryland.
authors.forename: Carol B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: 1Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,Department of Health Policy and Management,Baltimore,Maryland.
authors.forename: Lainie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rutkow
authors.affiliation: 4Cecil County Health Department,Elkton,Maryland.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Garrity
authors.affiliation: 5The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine,Inc,Bethesda,Maryland.
authors.forename: Kandra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stauss-Riggs
authors.affiliation: 5The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine,Inc,Bethesda,Maryland.
authors.forename: Brian A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Altman
authors.affiliation: 5The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine,Inc,Bethesda,Maryland.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Environmental Health Sciences,Baltimore,Maryland.
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.affiliation: 6Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Faculty of Health Sciences,Department of Epidemiology,Beer-Sheva,Israel.
authors.forename: Ran D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Balicer
authors.affiliation: 7The National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health,Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences,Rockville,Maryland.
authors.forename: Kenneth W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Schor
authors.affiliation: 3Department of Environmental Health Sciences,Baltimore,Maryland.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Barnett
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055867:Cyclonic Storms; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009111:Local Government; D008297:Male; D008396:Maryland; D009515:New Jersey; D010465:Perception; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D011634:Public Health; D020377:Self Efficacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: disasters; emergency preparedness; hurricane; public health