The Effects of a Disaster Preparedness app on Community Knowledge and Intentional Behavior in Hurricane Risk Areas

Objective: With the advancement of technology, disaster preparedness related to hurricane hazards can be taught through an app. This study aimed to examine the effect of using an android-based disaster preparedness app on community knowledge and intentional behavior in hurricane risk areas. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted from October to November, 2020 and a total of 80 respondents were recruited using cluster sampling. The treatment group was given the intervention in the form of the disaster preparedness app for 2 weeks. Meanwhile, the control group received home visits and conventional education about hurricane disasters twice throughout the same period. We then used a Wilcoxon Signed Rank test to analyze the pre-test and post-test and a Mann-Whitney U test to compare between treatment and control groups. Results: After the implementation of the SiBen app, we found a statistically significant difference in knowledge between treatment and control groups (P < 0.003) and intentional behavior between treatment and control groups (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The findings indicate that the disaster preparedness app was an effective educational program able to improve the knowledge and intentional behavior among community members in a hurricane risk area.