Assessment of disaster awareness and attitudes toward disasters among emergency and disaster management students at the Somali faculty of health sciences

Abstract Background: Disasters cause significant material and spiritual destruction within communities, resulting in significant damage to societal structures. Objective: This study aims to assess disaster awareness and attitudes toward disasters among emergency and disaster management students. Materials and Methods: This study included undergraduate students enrolled in the Department of Emergency and Disaster Management during the 2022–2023 academic year. A total of 85 students participated in this study and were contacted via an online Google form to assess their disaster awareness and attitudes toward disasters. The survey, consisting of a total of 23 items, was designed to assess participants’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral characteristics. Results: The study included 85 participants studying in the Emergency and Disaster Management department. Females made up 64.7% of the participants. The mean score of the responses given in the cognitive subfactor was 2.69 ± 0.56, the mean score of the responses given in the affective subfactor was 3.13 ± 0.47, and the mean score of the responses given in the behavioral subfactor was 2.67 ± 0.76. Conclusion: Having previously experienced a disaster, being male, belonging to a higher socio-economic class, and being older increase the average Disaster Attitude Scale score, and the increase in the average score indicates an increase in disaster awareness.