Nurses Taking On Readiness Measures - Mercer County, New Jersey

As more chronically ill people are living in the community and disasters are occurring frequently, the elderly and the medically frail vulnerable populations are experiencing significantly more disaster-related morbidity and mortality than the rest of the population. Lack of knowledge on how best to prepare for disasters and lack of means to purchase supplies are significant barriers to adequate household emergency preparedness (HEP). Community-based HEP interventions present a unique opportunity to address these barriers and disaster-related morbidity and mortality disparities in vulnerable populations. Modeled after a community intervention targeting healthy seniors (Golden, 2013) and residents (New York State, n.d.), Nurses Taking On Readiness Measures (N-TORM) is a nurse-driven HEP intervention that will be offered in the community to older adults, individuals with chronic illnesses, pregnant women, and caregivers of medically frail individuals. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute (2014) states that these individuals have access or functional needs during disasters and are considered vulnerable populations. The proposed study develops, tests, and evaluates the N-TORM intervention for the purpose of contributing to generalizable knowledge about the nurses' role in the HEP of vulnerable community members. The proposed phase I feasibility pilot study will specifically target independently living community members with access and functional needs. The N-TORM intervention will enable the household to meet the FEMA recommendations for HEP, to safely shelter in place, and evacuate quickly with their supplies if needed. Measurable outcomes of the proposed study include the nurse's impact on the participants' level of HEP post-intervention and participant satisfaction with the intervention. Multi-disciplinary collaboration with engagement of community and government organizations will be demonstrated by the proposed study. Community resources provided by the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management will be incorporated into N-TORM. It is plausible that the long-term impact of the N-TORM intervention would be lives saved and resources conserved. Because the N-TORM intervention uses an all-hazards approach, it is possible to replicate nationally and with different vulnerable populations.

• RQ 1: What is the baseline level of HEP of the participants?
• RQ 2: How much of the variance in HEP is explained by the Household Emergency Preparedness Instrument (HEPI)?
• RQ 3: Is there a significant difference in HEP level after receiving the N-TORM intervention?
• RQ 4: What are the facilitators and barriers of nurses delivering and participants receiving the N-TORM intervention? Finally, the proposed study will also pilot test a new household emergency preparedness instrument (Heagele et al., 2020) in order to perform psychometric testing on the instrument and generate reliability and validity data.

Potential Participants will be recruited from a private Facebook group called "Hamilton Twp. Mercer County NJ." The principal investigator will also utilize the Snowball Sampling technique where participants suggest other potential participants. The principal investigator will provide flyers to the participants with the hope that they will share them with other potential participants.

The principal investigator will then perform the online screening. The principal investigator will deliver the recruitment script to eligible participants.

Participants will be consented only once when they enroll in the study. The consent form will be provided during the online screening/recruitment for the potential participant to read. The consent form will be signed at the in-person meeting at a public place of the participant's choice within Mercer County, New Jersey, after the principal investigator has answered any questions that the participant has.