This research takes a social constructivist approach to investigate the relationship between people’s perceptions of disaster risk and their responses in disaster-prone cities of the Global South. This is important because the effects of risk perceptions on the ways that people respond to disaster risk remains unclear and has been labelled ‘weak’ within the disaster studies literature. Furthermore, this lack of clarity has contributed to the marginalisation of people at risk from contributing to interventions that address disaster risk, which this research finds problematic. Therefore, a better understanding of how people perceive their risk and how this shapes their responses would help inform more effective and multi-scalar interventions to address disaster risk. The research takes place in three adjacent neighbourhoods of Cochabamba city, Bolivia. Within this ‘case site’, the house is used as a methodological tool to investigate how people’s risk perceptions shape their responses to disaster risk. In particular, the research explores how risk perceptions influence the way people design and construct self-build houses in order to reduce their risk of a disaster. The focus on housing construction represents a novel way of exploring the relationship between risk perceptions and disaster risk-reduction behaviour. The research takes place in the context of persistent, low-intensity natural hazards that are linked to disaster risk which incrementally increases over time. This marks a shift away from the many studies that investigate rapid-onset, extreme hazards that quickly overwhelm people’s capabilities and which are associated with crisis and urgency. Additionally, the research is concerned with small-scale disasters, which again marks a shift away from the disaster studies literature which principally focuses on large-scale disasters that result in many casualties, large economic loss and which affect a large geographical area. The research ultimately shows that whether a risk perception is high or low is not the most important factor; rather, it is an individual’s awareness and understanding of disaster risk that encourages long-term and anticipatory strategies that require significant investments in the house. Furthermore, the research argues that research which describes the relationship between risk perceptions and responses as ‘weak’ forecloses the nuances and complexity of human behaviour in disaster-prone contexts because it does not capture the subtle yet important ways that risk perceptions shape responses.

The main focus of this thesis was to gain a better understanding about the dynamics of risk perception and its influence on people’s evacuation behavior. Another major focus was to improve our knowledge regarding geo-spatial and temporal variations of risk perception and hurricane evacuation behavior. A longitudinal dataset of more than eight hundred households were collected following two major hurricane events, Ivan and Katrina. The longitudinal survey data was geocoded and a geo-spatial database was integrated to it. The geospatial database was composed of distance, elevation and hazard parameters with respect to the respondent’s household location. A set of Bivariate Probit (BP) model suggests that geospatial variables have had significant influences in explaining hurricane risk perception and evacuation behavior during both hurricanes. The findings also indicated that people made their evacuation decision in coherence with their risk perception. In addition, people updated their hurricane evacuation decision in a subsequent similar event.

Effective risk communication is essential in the field of health to ensure patients understand the information being presented to them by medical professionals and appreciate the level of risk involved in treatments. Cardiovascular disease, being the leading cause of death worldwide, is relevant to consider when examining risk communication in a health setting. Those afflicted with cardiovascular ailments are both high in number and exposed to information communicating risk. This research aims to identify presentation formats that are more effective communicating risk information to recovering cardiovascular patients at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. The formats’ effectiveness is measured by gauging the population’s understanding of the material and perception of the information as it relates to risk and motivation. The research draws on Max Weber’s concept of rationality and subsequent scholars who developed social judgment theory, the heuristic-systematic model, expected utility theory, protection motivation theory, and the extended parallel process model. Utilizing an experimental research design, risk information handouts and questionnaires are distributed to, and completed by, a stratified sample of cardiovascular disease patients. Effective presentation formats are examined, and the results identify comparatively effective presentation formats for minimizing and maximizing risk perception. The results also identify presentation formats’ impact on a patient’s level of motivation to avoid / indulge in behaviours that may maximize or minimize risk. The results, synthesized herein, suggest a model (communicative cardiovascular physician-patient model of message preparation-perception), which may contribute to the effectiveness of risk communication between physicians and cardiovascular disease patients.

The goal of this thesis was to reposition individual preparedness within a social environmental context. First, a theoretical model was developed to more accurately represent the social environmental considerations neglected in current preparedness research and policy. A series of three studies tested this model using a mixed-methods approach: First, subjective conceptualizations of preparedness were explored in a qualitative analysis (N = 12). Findings revealed that participants evaluated their readiness not in terms of prescribed activities, but perceptions about their current resourcefulness as well as past local hazards. Participants’ had positive social environments which also reinforced their perceived coping ability in future emergency events. Subsequent thesis studies investigated the role social environment further, using quantitative data. The second study explicitly tested whether perceptions of risk and coping could explain differences in preparedness based on demographic attributes linked to variations in social environment. Data from a survey examining Canadians perceptions regarding terrorism threats (N = 1503) revealed that greater anticipated response was significantly associated with increased age, as well as female gender, higher education levels, and higher income levels. Statistically significant differences in threat appraisals were also reported based on these demographic groupings. However, mediation analyses demonstrated that with the exception of gender, differences in anticipated response could not be explained via risk perceptions or perceived coping efficacy, suggesting that social environment’s role in preparedness is not related to the internal processes often targeted in current campaigns. The third study used a multilevel design to investigate the contextual role of neighbourhood social environment in anticipated emergency response. Results demonstrated that a more deprived social neighbourhood context was related to lowered anticipated emergency response. This relationship was maintained after controlling for significant individual-level factors such as previous experience and sociodemographics, highlighting the importance of neighbourhood social context in facilitating emergency preparedness. Taken together, these findings provide novel evidence that focusing preparedness strategies to primarily target internal processes is misguided, and that future research and policy must position preparedness efforts in the context of existing social environmental resources and barriers in order to build capacity for effective emergency response.

Food-borne illness is a significant burden both with regard to public health and financially. Efforts to reduce the level of food-borne illness continue to concentrate on the full food supply chain with particular regard given to Campylobacter, the most commonly reported zoonosis and the greatest burden to public health. The focus of this research is domestic food safety practises, where there is no regulation. Food safety is reliant on people’s knowledge or awareness, their ability to adopt safe food handling practises and for the correct behaviours to achieve this, to be routine. The elicitation of awareness and perceptions with regard to food safety are problematic due to the complexities of human nature, including the presence of several forms of bias, such as social desirability bias and optimistic bias. The research was designed in order to try to minimise such biases, whilst further understanding influences on food safety preparation behaviour. Food safety preparation behaviours and kitchen hygiene were investigated between people who had campylobacteriosis in comparison to people who had not had food poisoning. Whilst no difference was noted in the kitchen hygiene between the two groups, significant differences were noted in self-reported food preparation behaviours. Optimistic bias was exhibited by both groups but when tested again after six months had elapsed, the group who had not had food poisoning increased their optimism, introducing a significant difference in optimistic bias between the two groups. Awareness of a number of unsafe food behaviours was explored for individuals and groups of people using a method developed as part of the research. This method of hazard awareness uses video as a stimulus, creating an interactive survey, combined with attitudinal and demographic data. Changes were made to perceptions of knowledge and risk following the hazard perception challenge, with the number of hazards missed, influencing this movement in perception. The risk perception of unsafe food handling behaviours was examined using a novel technique Best-Worst Scaling, in order to identify relative risks. This technique, in conjunction with latent class modelling, demonstrated a difference in perceptions between food safety experts and members of the general public. However, these differences are nuanced and demonstrate that heterogeneity exists both within and across the groups. Taken together, these findings have extended the research on domestic food safety behaviour and risk perceptions. It has done so by developing and testing novel methods to elicit relative risk perceptions and hazard perception with regard to food safety behaviours. The results provide valuable evidence for stakeholders particularly with regard to the novel methods used in identifying the heterogeneity and influences of food safety behaviour between groups of people. It also provides important tools for stakeholders, risk managers and communicators to use in future research, communication and education.

Recreational noise exposure has tripled in the last three decades. A major source of this noise is amplified music. Exposure to amplified music can result in similar auditory damage to that caused by other loud noises. Damage to the inner ear leads to elevations of hearing thresholds, characteristically a loss in higher frequencies. An acquired hearing loss due to amplified music can be referred to as a recreational noise-induced hearing loss. Prevention of recreational hearing loss begins with improving awareness about the risk of amplified music. In order to assess the risk perceptions of young people attending music events, a descriptive design involving a quantitative risk-perception survey was conducted at five music events. Dosimetry measurements were performed in order to describe the sound pressure levels. This investigation provided information regarding the influence of demographics on the perception of risk. It was suggested that women, older age groups, and those from a higher socio-economic status (SES) are more likely to identify themselves as more susceptible to auditory-specific symptoms. The demographics of the population that showed greater propensity for risk was males, those aged 18 to 20 years, those in Matric, homemakers and individuals from a lower income group. These individuals may perceive themselves as invulnerable to negative consequences. Furthermore, majority of those who attend music events have never used earplugs; with only a third of them willing to make use of hearing protection if it were stipulated by law. Concern about one’s own hearing and awareness of other auditory symptoms could be associated with greater compliance to hearing protection. In order to promote healthy hearing behaviour among young people, it is crucial to account for differences in risk perceptions. The findings in this investigation are valuable in terms of the development of recreational hearing health risk preventative strategies. Keywords: noise-induced hearing loss, recreational, risk perceptions, gender, age, education, socio-economic status, hearing protection / Dissertation (MCommPath)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / Unrestricted

Orientadores: Mateus Batistella, Lúcia da Costa Ferreira / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T13:01:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Iwama_AllanYu_D.pdf: 19435233 bytes, checksum: 3bf2de5c4f689d0e7ed9b543b12b84e1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: As zonas costeiras são áreas potencialmente sujeitas a riscos ambientais, sobretudo no contexto de eventos climáticos extremos. Há uma considerável parcela da população vivendo em zonas costeiras, o que reforça a importância de apontar as situações de risco e vulnerabilidade que as mudanças climáticas trazem para essas regiões. Esta pesquisa tem como principais objetivos: (1) identificar e caracterizar as áreas em situação de vulnerabilidade no litoral do estado de São Paulo, com ênfase no litoral norte, compreendido pelos municípios de Caraguatatuba, Ilhabela, São Sebastião e Ubatuba; (2) avaliar a percepção das pessoas em situação de risco e analisar suas estratégias de adaptação ou enfrentamento [aos riscos a que estão expostas]. A abordagem metodológica foi baseada considerando duas principais escalas, a regional e a local, embasadas por um misto de métodos que envolveu a análise espacial de dados sociodemográficos e do meio físico e a aplicação de questionários estruturados para analisar a percepção da população em situações de risco e o contexto das mudanças climáticas. Os resultados apontam para uma distribuição das áreas de riscos geotécnicos no litoral paulista, com ênfase analítica para a UGRHi-3 (litoral norte de São Paulo), classificada como Muito Alta ou Alta suscetibilidade a escorregamentos ou inundação, sobretudo em áreas de acesso restrito da população aos serviços públicos básicos ou em condições precárias de moradia. Os resultados chamam atenção para situações de vulnerabilidade social, que têm se mantido `contínuas¿ ao longo de dez anos, associadas a um retrato de contraste social e segregação socioespacial, sem uma efetiva intervenção ou ação para reduzir os impactos ante a um perigo iminente de desastre. O que se tem observado são ações remediadoras de pós-evento aos `desastres¿ e suas razões vão desde um quadro insuficiente de equipes de defesa civil para atender toda a extensão dos municípios até uma política institucional voltada mais para ações de reconstrução do que de prevenção. Essa realidade vem sendo modificada com a implementação de políticas públicas orientadas para uma integração de instrumentos de gestão (tais como regras para parcelamento de uso do solo, planos diretores, zoneamento e mapeamento de riscos) que considerem também aspectos das mudanças climáticas. No entanto, essas ações ainda são incipientes. Os resultados desta pesquisa permitem possíveis avanços nas abordagens teóricas e metodológicas ligadas ao tema de vulnerabilidade e adaptação da sociedade diante dos riscos a que está exposta, buscando também contribuir para uma interface com as políticas públicas. Os resultados, em seu conjunto, trazem contribuições como parte integrante do projeto temático "Clima" ¿ Crescimento populacional, vulnerabilidade e adaptação: dimensões sociais e ecológicas das mudanças climáticas no litoral de São Paulo (n.o 2008/58159-7), no escopo do Programa Fapesp de Pesquisa sobre Mudanças Climáticas Globais (PFPMCG) / Abstract: The coastal zones are areas of potential environmental risks, particularly in the context of climatic extreme events. A significant portion of the population living in coastal areas, emphasizing the importance of characterizing situations of risk and vulnerability in the context of climate change in these regions. This research project had two main objectives: (1) identify and characterize vulnerable areas on the coast of São Paulo, with focus on the Northern coast (UGRHi-3), by municipalities Caraguatatuba, Ilhabela, São Sebastião and Ubatuba; (2) assess the risk perception of people at risk and to analyze their strategies of adaptation or coping [the hazards/risks they are exposed]. The methodological approach was based on considering two main scales: regional and local levels, based on a combination of methods involving spatial data analysis of the physical and demographic variables and the application of structured questionnaires to analyze the risk perception of the population at risk and context of climate change. The results point out to a distribution of areas of geotechnical risks on the coast of São Paulo, ranked as Very High or High susceptibility to landslides or flooding, especially in areas of restricted access of the population to basic public services or in slums housing conditions. The results called attention to situations of social vulnerability that has remained 'continuous' over ten years, together with a scenario of social contrasts and socio-spatial segregation without an effective intervention or action to reduce the impacts faced with the risk impending disaster. What has been observed is actions post-event to 'disasters' and his reasons ranging from insufficient framework of civil defense teams to meet the full extent of these municipalities by an institutional policy focused on actions for reconstruction than prevention. This situation has been changing with the implementation of public policies for the integration of management tools (such as guidelines for land use, master plans, zoning and risk mapping) and also consider aspects of climate change, however is still incipient. The results of this research supported the research components within the thematic `Clima¿ project - "Population growth, vulnerability and adaptation: social and ecological dimensions of climate change on the coast of São Paulo" (Fapesp 2008/58159-7), in the scope the FAPESP Research Program on Global Climate Change (PFPMCG), allowing possible advances in methods approaches linked to the theme [risks and vulnerabilities] and adaptation of society against the hazards/risks they are exposed. This approach, also sought to contribute to the broader issues of the thematic project from FAPESP, seeking interfaces with public policy / Doutorado / Aspectos Sociais de Sustentabilidade e Conservação / Doutor em Ambiente e Sociedade

Orientador: Roberto Luiz do Carmo / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T11:50:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos_FrancineModestodos_D.pdf: 5124668 bytes, checksum: e47aef7eca4eeb400c5c3d267d431021 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: O objetivo desta tese é estudar as relações entre a dinâmica populacional, a percepção ambiental e as mudanças ambientais em Ilha Comprida, município do Litoral Sul de São Paulo, o qual está sendo fortemente afetado por um processo de erosão acelerada na Ponta Norte que ameaça construções e a população residente nessa área. Com este estudo buscou-se conhecer e analisar como são percebidos e quais ações são realizadas pela população (residente e de veraneio) e pelo governo local para enfrentar a erosão na extremidade norte da Ilha Comprida. A forma como a população percebe e enfrenta os perigos está relacionada ao envolvimento das pessoas com o lugar, que repercute em suas ações de enfrentamento para lidar com os perigos ambientais do município. A percepção ambiental passa por certa diferenciação entre residentes e não residentes, entre alguns componentes da dinâmica demográfica, como sexo, idade e tempo de residência que foram identificados nas categorias de análise da pesquisa. Com este olhar na dinâmica da população, é possível compreender como os perigos ambientais do município são enfrentados pelos sujeitos que os vivenciam. A estratégia metodológica quanti-quali utilizada para caracterizar sociodemograficamente os grupos populacionais expostos aos perigos ambientais da Ilha Comprida e analisar a percepção ambiental da população residente, de veraneio, de gestores e especialistas acerca dos perigos ambientais da área de estudo foi obtida a partir dos dados dos Censos Demográficos (2000-2010) e da realização de entrevistas qualitativas com estes atores sociais. Desse modo, só foi possível alcançar o objetivo da pesquisa estudando a dinâmica populacional desse município e de sua região. A pesquisa empírica proporcionou a compreensão de como se dá a relação entre a população e os fenômenos do ambiente onde estão, como a população conhece os perigos ambientais aos quais está exposta e promove ações de adaptação aos perigos do lugar que ela construiu socialmente. Os resultados indicam que as autoridades governamentais não têm planos de gestão em vigor para lidar com os perigos ambientais atuais e futuros e que as estratégias de enfrentamento ao perigo ambiental da erosão costeira em Ilha Comprida são realizadas principalmente no nível individual e familiar. Há ainda uma resistência tanto da população local para aceitar a realocação como forma de adaptação às mudanças ambientais da Ilha, quanto da gestão local e de órgãos responsáveis pela proteção da área de estudo para gerenciar os problemas ambientais deste ambiente estuarino-lagunar. Desse modo, propõe-se uma ação mais ampla e efetiva que busque conciliar desenvolvimento socioeconômico e proteção ambiental para melhorar tanto a governança ambiental quanto a capacidade adaptativa desse município costeiro e também de outros locais que enfrentam questões ambientais semelhantes às da Ilha Comprida. / Abstract: The objective of this thesis is to study the relations among the population dynamics, the environmental perception and the environmental changes at Ilha Comprida, a municipality from the southern coastline of São Paulo, which is being strongly affected by an accelerated erosion process in Ponte Norte, which is a menace to the constructions and the resident population of this area. The objective of this study was to know and analyze how the local perception is and which actions are being performed by the population (resident and seasonal) and by the government to face the erosion in the northern end of Ilha Comprida. The way the population perceives and faces it is related to the engagement of the people with the place, which impacts in their actions to handle with the environmental hazards of the municipality. The environmental perception goes through the differentiation between residents and non-residents, among some components of the demographic dynamics such as sex, age and years of residence in the area which were identified in the analysis categories of the research. With this view over the population dynamics, it¿s possible to understand how the environmental hazards are faced by the individuals who experience them. The methodological strategy quanti-quali used to characterize socio-demographically the population groups exposed to the environmental hazards at llha Comprida and analyze the environmental perception of the resident population, the seasonal populations, the managers and the specialists concerning the environmental hazards of the area of study was obtained from the data of the Demographic censuses (from 2000 to 2010) and qualitative interviews with this social actors. Thereby, the objective of the research was only possibly achieved by studying the population dynamics of this municipality and its region. The empirical research has provided the understanding of how the relation between the population and the phenomena of the environment where they are works and how the population get to know the environmental hazards which they are exposed to and promote actions of adaptation to the hazards of the place, which they socially brought up. The results indicate that the governmental authorities have no in force management plans to deal with the current and future environmental hazards and the strategies for dealing with this issue of the coastal erosion at Ilha Comprida are mainly carried through the familiar and individual levels. There is also a resistance concerning both the local population, to accept the reallocation as a way of adaptation to the environmental changes of the island and the local management together with the bodies responsible for the protection of the area of study, to manage the environmental issues of this lagoon estuary. Thereby, a more comprehensive and effective plan of action that tries to conciliate socioeconomic development and environmental protection is proposed to improve both the environmental governance and the capacity of adaptation of this coastal municipality, and also other places that face similar issues compared to the ones at Ilha Comprida / Doutorado / Demografia / Doutor em Demografia

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The research paper presents qualitative research and aims to examine the impact of social media on consumers’ stockpiling behavior under the situation of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Sweden since week 11, 2020. Data is collected by interviewing five middle-aged women in Sweden who are either native Swedes or permanent immigrants and who had experienced stockpiling behavior. The interpretation of collected data is discussed based on the two-step flow theory, risk communication and the theory of planned behavior, and the social contagion theory. The qualitative content analysis is used to analyze the data with the results of three themes: being inclined to reach information, realizing why and when to hoard things, and behavior changes and showing confidence. The five women interviewed all use various social media ways to get information about COVID-19. There is a significant correlation between social media use, risk perception formulation, and stockpiling behavior. Participants have their judgment to look into the authenticity and reliability of related news. They trust the official social media reports, underwent the influence of social media reports, two-way online interaction, and other stockpiling consumers. They also experience the decreasing level of risk perception and thus changes in stockpiling behavior.