Framework for crisis preparedness planning: Four required areas for developing a learning process

To outline a framework for preparedness planning at the organizational level.

The study is based on a content analysis of research literature as well as an analysis of interviews with six preparedness planners working in Swedish local authorities.

The study setting included Swedish local authorities of different sizes.

The participants are preparedness planners responsible for coordinating crisis management work in Swedish local authorities. The study includes preparedness planners with different backgrounds, education, experiences, and gender.

A presentation of 19 factors of preparedness planning identified in the literature and a discussion around how preparedness planners perceive those factors.

The main outcome measures are knowledge about how both researcher and practitioner understand and argue around different factors of preparedness planning.

The result of this study is a framework for preparedness planning. As preparedness planning ought to be a learning process, the presented framework builds on four areas connected to learning: prerequisites for preparedness planning, who should be involved, what is to be learned, and how should the work be shaped.

The analysis of factors identified in the literature and also in the interviews with preparedness planners illustrates that the four areas connected to learning are required for developing a preparedness planning process.