Structural Characteristics of Nursing Homes and Social Service Directors that Influence Their Engagement in Disaster Preparedness Processes

Nursing home residents are an at-risk population during disaster situations, and nursing homes face unique challenges in managing disasters. Nursing home social service departments can support their nursing homes in meeting the needs of residents during disasters, yet there is little research exploring their involvement. To address this gap, we use secondary data from the 2019 National Nursing Home Social Service Directors’ study to explore social service directors’ and their departments’ involvement in disaster preparedness and response, and personal- and nursing home-level characteristics that predict involvement. Results show that nursing home social service directors and their staffs are predominantly involved; 61.9% (n = 562) of respondents stated always participating, and an additional 20.3% (n = 184) usually participating in disaster planning. The age of the director significantly predicted involvement, with older directors being most likely to always be involved. Further research is needed to understand why some nursing homes involve their social service directors in disaster planning and others do not, what roles those directors play, and to identify strategies to increase involvement within this role.