Improving the Impact and Implementation of Disaster Education: Programs for Children Through Theory-Based Evaluation

Area of Science:

• Disaster education
• Program evaluation
• Risk reduction

Background:

• Current evaluations of children's disaster education often focus narrowly on knowledge acquisition.
• There's a lack of explicit program theory explaining how educational interventions translate into tangible disaster risk reduction outcomes.
• Effective evaluation requires understanding the causal pathways from education to desired impacts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the advantages of using program theory models in evaluating disaster education for children.
• To present and exemplify frameworks for developing program theory, including logic models, program theory matrices, and stage-step models.
• To demonstrate practical applications of program theory in real-world disaster education evaluations.

Main Methods:

• Reviewed potential program theory frameworks (logic model, program theory matrix, stage step model).
• Developed a program theory matrix for evaluating the "ShakeOut" earthquake drill in Washington State schools.
• Developed a stage step model for a process evaluation of the "What's the Plan Stan?" disaster education resource in New Zealand primary schools.

Main Results:

• The program theory matrix for "ShakeOut" illustrated a theory of action linking earthquake drills to injury and death prevention.
• The stage step model for "What's the Plan Stan?" demonstrated a theory of use focused on expanding resource reach through promotion.
• The study discussed the process, advantages, and limitations of developing and applying these theory-based evaluation approaches.

Conclusions:

• Program theory models are crucial for robust evaluation of children's disaster education programs.
• Theory-based approaches provide a clearer understanding of how interventions achieve disaster risk reduction.
• Frameworks like the program theory matrix and stage step model offer practical tools for evaluation planning and implementation.