Perceived risk of home fire and escape plans in rural households

Risk Perception among Psychiatric Patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The fear of the new coronavirus infection has driven many non-COVID-19 patients away from essential healthcare. Our study aimed to investigate the perception of risk and feelings of danger for the contagion in a sample of Italian psychiatric patients. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown in Italy. The risk perception and risk-related variables were assessed in a sample of 150 consecutive patients with a previous diagnosis of major depression (50), bipolar I disorder (50), and schizophrenia seeking ambulatory care using a questionnaire previously administered to the general Italian population. Our results showed that patients were more concerned about economic, psychological, and interpersonal consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, rather than about their own health. At the multiple regression analysis, the likelihood of COVID-19 resolution was positively influenced by the diagnosis of schizophrenia, the increased perceived effectiveness, and the presence of positive emotions. Indeed, positive emotions and uncertainty positively influenced interpersonal risk. Our study highlights the need to provide more support to psychiatric patients during emergency events to prevent them from engaging in risky behaviors.

Domestic fire emergency escape plans among the aged in NSW, Australia: the impact of a fire safety home visit program

Background

Domestic fire-related injuries and deaths among the aged remain a concern of many countries including Australia. This study aimed to assess the impact of a home fire safety visit project on domestic fire emergency escape plans among the 373 aged persons using multivariate analyses.

Method

The study used data from a collaborative intervention program by three emergency agencies in New South Wales. It covered 373 older people at registration and 156 at post home visit follow-up. The five fire emergency escape plan outcome measures (participants having a working smoke alarm, finding out what to do if there was a fire at their home, making a plan to escape their home in the event of a fire, finding out how to escape their home in an emergency and finding out how to maintain their installed smoke alarm) were examined by adjusting for key characteristics of participants, using a generalized estimating equation (GEE) model that adjusted for repeated measures in order to examine the association between the home visit program and fire emergency escape plans.

Results

There were significant improvements in participants’ likelihood of finding out what to do if there was a fire in their home [AOR; 95% CI 1.89 (1.59–2.26)], making a plan to escape their home [AOR; 95% CI 1.80 (1.50–2.17)], how to escape their home in an emergency [AOR; 95% CI 1.33 (1.07–1.66)] and how to maintain their smoke alarm [AOR; 95% CI 1.77 (1.48–2.12)]. Female participants were less likely to have a plan to escape their home in the event of a fire [AOR; 95% CI 0.86 (0.75–0.99)] and to find out how to escape their home in an emergency [AOR; 95% CI 0.71 (0.61–0.82)] compared with their male counterparts. Additionally, participants who spoke languages other than English at home were significantly less likely to have a working smoke alarm [AOR; 95% CI 0.88 (0.38–0.69)].

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that home visit programs are able to increase fire safety of vulnerable and isolated older people.

Factors Associated with Home Fire Escape Plans in New South Wales: Multinomial Analysis of High-Risk Individuals and New South Wales Population

The preparation and practice of home-escape plans are important strategies for individuals and families seeking to reduce and/or prevent fire-related injury or death. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of and factors associated with, home-escape plans in the state of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The study used data from two surveys—a 2016 fire safety attitudes and behaviour survey administered to high-risk individuals (n = 296) and a 2013 NSW health survey covering 13,027 adults aged 16 years and above. It applied multinomial logistic regression analyses to these data to identify factors associated with having a written home-fire escape plan, having an unwritten home-fire escape plan and not having any home-fire escape plan. The prevalence of written home-escape plans was only 4.3% (95% CI: 2.5, 7.5) for the high-risk individuals and 7.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.3, 8.6) for the entire NSW population. The prevalence of unwritten escape plans was 44.6% (95% CI: 38.8, 50.5) for the high-risk individuals and 26.2% (95% CI: 25.1, 27.2) for the NSW population. The prevalence of no-escape plan at all was 51.1% (95% CI: 45.2, 56.9) for the high-risk individuals and 65.9% (95% CI: 64.8, 67.1) for the NSW population. After adjusting for other covariates, the following factors were found to be significantly associated with unwritten-escape plan and no-escape plan prevalence: speaking only the English language at home, practicing home-fire escape plans infrequently, being married, being female and testing smoke alarms less often. Future fire interventions should target people who speak only English at home and people who test their smoke alarms infrequently. These interventions should be accompanied by research aimed at reversing the trend toward use of more flammable materials in homes.

Using photographic interpretation to evaluate the safety of home environments

In the US there were 400,000 home fires resulting in 2755 deaths, 12,450 injuries, and $6.9B lost. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the content-validity of photographs taken in the home for use as an educational instrument to teach about "safe" and "unsafe" fire safety practice for adults and older adults. A total of 73 home fire safety experts were provided 27 photographs to evaluate home fire safety practice. Initially, a Krippendorff's alpha was calculated for the first 24 questions to evaluate inter-rater reliability, and differences in demographics were evaluated. Unique codes and themes for the last three questions were identified and inter-rater reliability examined. A majority of respondents were female (n = 43, 60.6%), college educated (n = 61, 83.6%), nurses (n = 25, 33.8%), or worked for a fire department (n = 21, 29.6%). Their mean age was 45.5 years and they had 11.05 years of experience. The first 24 questions had high inter-rater reliability (Krippendorff α = 0.831). No significant differences existed between the strata of the demographic variables (all p-values > 0.05). Similarly, based on the codes and themes identified, the last three questions had moderate-to-good inter-rater reliability (Krippendorff α = 0.764). Providing photographs as a 'seek-and-find' or 'What's wrong with this picture?' tools and simplified visual images is an excellent way to aid recognition of unsafe home fire safety environments. Education through non-traditional visual methods increases the possibility of change for diverse low-literacy populations.

Risk perception, experience, and objective risk: a cross-national study with European emergency survivors

Understanding public risk perceptions and their underlying processes is important in order to learn more about the way people interpret and respond to hazardous emergency events. Direct experience with an involuntary hazard has been found to heighten the perceived risk of experiencing the same hazard and its consequences in the future, but it remains unclear if cross-over effects are possible (i.e., experience with one hazard influencing perceived risk for other hazards also). Furthermore, the impact of objective risk and country of residence on perceived risk is not well understood. As part of the BeSeCu (Behavior, Security, and Culture) Project, a sample of 1,045 survivors of emergencies from seven European countries (i.e., Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Turkey, and Italy) was drawn. Results revealed heightened perceived risk for emergency events (i.e., domestic and public fires, earthquakes, floods, and terrorist attacks) when the event had been experienced previously plus some evidence of cross-over effects, although these effects were not so strong. The largest country differences in perceived risk were observed for earthquakes, but this effect was significantly reduced by taking into account the objective earthquake risk. For fires, floods, terrorist attacks, and traffic accidents, only small country differences in perceived risk were found. Further studies including a larger number of countries are welcomed.

Risk Factors for Rural Residential Fires

CONTEXT AND PURPOSE

Rural households report high fire-related mortality and injury rates, but few studies have examined the risk factors for fires. This study aims to identify occupant and household characteristics that are associated with residential fires in a rural cohort.

METHODS

Of 1,005 households contacted in a single rural county, 691 (68.8%) agreed to participate. One household with missing information on a reported fire was excluded from the analysis. We used logistic regression to examine the independent association of occupant and household characteristics with reported fires, controlling for years lived in the residence. We also examined the association between the occurrence of previous fires and the adoption of safety measures.

FINDINGS

A total of 78 (11.3%) households reported a residential fire. Occupant characteristics that were associated with significantly higher odds of reported fires included the presence of an occupant with alcohol problems (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.01-3.28) and being married (OR = 2.11, 95% CI = 1.14-3.91). Rural farm households were associated with significantly higher odds (OR = 1.72, 95% CI = 1.01-2.93) of reporting a fire when compared to residences in towns, after controlling for all other occupant and household characteristics. The presence of a fire extinguisher (OR = 2.00, 95% CI = 1.10-3.64) was the only fire safety measure that had a statistically significant association with reported fire.

CONCLUSIONS

Rural farm households report higher incidences of fire when compared to households located in towns. Experiencing a fire is not associated with an increased likelihood of adopting safety measures to prevent injuries once a fire has started.