Organizational Preparedness and Community Readiness for a Public Health Emergency Among Community Service Provider Organizations in East Harlem, New York City
Item
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Title
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Organizational Preparedness and Community Readiness for a Public Health Emergency Among Community Service Provider Organizations in East Harlem, New York City
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:caaaf812ad04:11376
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identifier
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11743
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Creator
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Palermo, Ann-Gel Sirrae,
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Contributor
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Luisa N. Borrell
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Date
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2012
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Public health | Organizational behavior | Community Readiness | Community Service Provider | East Harlem | Organizational Preparedness | Public Health Emergency Preparedness
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Abstract
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Community service provider organizations operating in vulnerable and minority communities are ill-prepared for a public health emergency and are largely left out of formal preparedness activities. This study had two aims: (1) to examine the association of certain organizational attributes among community service provider organizations operating with levels of organizational preparedness in East Harlem, New York City; and (2) to assess the extent to which this community is ready to engage in public health emergency preparedness activities. Organizational leaders were identified from organizational membership lists of three community groups (n=83). An online cross-sectional survey was administered to 31 organizational leaders over a 5-week period to measure organizational preparedness, individual-level preparedness, organizational confidence, and specific organizational leader and organizational characteristics. Descriptive statistics, linear, and logistic regression analyses were used to address the Aim 1 of the study. For Aim 2, six organizational leaders were randomly selected from the survey sample based on their level of organizational preparedness and participated in an in-depth interview informed by the Community Readiness Model (CRM). The CRM anchored statement rating method was used to determine the stage of overall community readiness. A qualitative analysis of the interviews was conducted using a grounded theory approach to identify themes, barriers, and opportunities for improved public health emergency preparedness. Our findings showed a 1.3 increase in organizational preparedness when associated with the level of individual preparedness and a .99 increase when associated with organizational confidence after controlling for selected characteristics. When the outcome was treated as categorical (high versus low levels of organizational preparedness) the results were nearly identical (1.37, C.I.: 1.02--1.84 for individual preparedness; and 1.33, C.I.1.03--1.72 for organizational confidence). East Harlem is at Stage 2:Denial/Resistance within the stages of community readiness (range from 1 to 9 towards a higher stage of readiness). Four major themes, knowledge, assumptions, and community contextual factors, emerged related to public health emergency preparedness and moving towards a more prepared community. Overall, East Harlem's community service provider organizations remain ill-prepared and the community is at a critically low stage of community readiness to engage in a public health emergency preparedness activities.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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D.P.H.
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Program
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Public Health
