Medical Student Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine Charleston, South Carolina, United States
Background: Adverse weather conditions place pediatric patients at risk of harm due to weather emergencies. Objective: This study aimed to assess caregiver attitudes, abilities, and knowledge about weather emergency readiness while examining differences among insurance status. Design/Methods: English and Spanish surveys were distributed to caregivers of pediatric patients at 11 practices in the South Carolina Pediatric Practice Research Network. Likert scales and “Yes/No” questions were used to assess caregiver attitudes and behaviors regarding five types of weather events: extreme heat, hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, and lightning strikes. Data frequencies were determined using SPSS Statistics v. 28.0.1.0. Responses were then stratified by insurance status (“Medicaid/None” v. “Private/Other”) and analyzed via Chi-square and Fisher’s exact analyses in SAS v. 9.4. Knowledge base was assessed via 8 “True/False” and multiple-choice questions based on CDC guidance. Results: The final analysis consisted of 428 surveys. Of note, 39.5% of respondents do not have an emergency kit to use in the case of an evacuation, 16.8% would need to evacuate to a community disaster shelter, 46% are “very ready” to evacuate their child in the event of a hurricane, and 46% report that their child plays outside at least “sometimes” during potentially dangerous weather conditions. The two most-often missed knowledge questions were related to safe driving in flood conditions (30.1% correct) and appropriate behavior during a lightning event (43.2% correct). Private/Other participants had more access to transportation during the event of a hurricane evacuation compared to Medicaid/None participants (96% v. 83%, p < 0.0001). Medicaid/None respondents were more likely than Private/Other respondents to need to go to a community shelter in the event of an evacuation, (22% v. 11%, p = .004). Private/Other individuals were more likely than Medicaid/None to report feeling “very” or “somewhat confident” in their abilities to prevent their children from being harmed due to extreme heat (94% v. 76%, p < 0.0001). Medicaid/None individuals also scored lower on knowledge assessment questions (60%) compared to Private/Other individuals (68%, p < 0.0001).
Conclusion(s): Overall, caregivers had low concern about their child being harmed, high confidence in their understanding of risk, and high confidence in their ability to prevent harm to their child due to weather events. Medicaid/None caregivers responded with a higher level of concern about weather emergencies compared to Private/Other caregivers.
