Evaluating the effectiveness of a disaster preparedness nursing education program in Chengdu, China

Objective To develop and evaluate a disaster nursing preparedness training program to improve nursing students' ability in disaster fundamentals, triage, and family preparedness when facing a disaster. Design and Sample An experimental study was applied using a pretest and post-test control group design. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 31) and control (n = 32) groups. Measures The program lasted 7 hr. All participants completed structured questionnaires at three time points. Results were compared between the two groups using Mann-Whitney U tests. Outcome measures were knowledge, skill, and attitude. Results Students receiving the program displayed greater increases in knowledge and skills related to disaster preparedness than those in the control group. One month after the intervention, the experimental group still had significantly higher levels of disaster knowledge and skill than the control group. There were no statistically significant differences over time in attitude measures. Conclusions This program enhanced students' ability and the findings can serve as a basis for further developing public health education for all nurses. Chinese leaders of public health institutions and nursing administrators can create guidelines for PHN competencies and prepare the public health nursing workforce to be effective in disaster, preparedness, response, and recovery.