The ultimate hope and great challenge undertaken by the authors of this volume is to improve disaster preparedness and response efforts globally by providing a standardized way to conduct rigorous and comprehensive scientific evaluative studies of the medical and public health response to these horrific events. It is our strongly held belief that the framework for the conduct of evaluative studies, as developed by specialists in scientific evaluation, offers the most appropriate and comprehensive structure for such studies. Our ‘eight-step approach’ is based upon a conceptual framework that is now widely used by health organizations globally as a basis for the evaluation of community-based medical and public health programs. We contend that many more disaster-related injuries and deaths can be prevented if the concepts and methods of evaluation science are applied to disaster events.
In Part 1 of this book we describe the basic concepts and scientific methods used by program evaluation scientists to assess the structure, process, and outcomes of medical and public health interventions. In addition, a detailed description of a comprehensive medical and public health response system is described. In Part 2 we present an eight-step model for conducting an evaluative study of the response, again with a focus on the medical and public health components. Ethical issues that come into play in the conduct of disaster evaluative disaster research, and how these should be addressed, are the focus of Chapter 13. The final chapter offers a look to the future as new technology for data collection becomes available.
We are not so naïve as to believe that disaster preparedness and response will change as a direct result of the availability of scientifically conducted assessments. Change requires a double pronged commitment—leaders from both the ranks of government and of the health professions must carefully consider, fund, and adopt policy positions and programs that are based upon the findings and recommendations that emerge from scientific evaluation studies. That is the most certain pathway to a better future.
The public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic for people with disabilities