Do you have any questions? 
Background and Aim
Disaster management and preparedness by healthcare professionals (HCPs) are integral to safeguarding public health. The present study assessed the awareness, attitude, and practice of disaster preparedness among HCPs of the central Saudi Arabia region. Furthermore, the present study determined the predictors associated with these three domains.
Methods
The present study was conducted among 390 HCPs from central Saudi Arabia using a cross-sectional design. The authors used a standard and validated data collection tool to gather the required information. We conducted the Spearman correlation analysis to identify the correlation among these three domains. Finally, the authors applied a multivariate analysis to identify the factors associated with the low levels of awareness, attitude, and practice.
Results
Among the HCPs studied, we observed a sizable proportion had low knowledge (36.2%), attitude (45.9%), and practice (49.2%) towards disaster preparedness. The present study showed a significant positive correlation between awareness and attitude (rho = 0.649) and awareness and practice (rho = 0.565). Nursing professionals had significantly higher awareness (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 3.187, p = 0.007), attitude (AOR = 4.564, p = 0.001), and practice (AOR = 3.235, p = 0.007) scores. Furthermore, married healthcare professionals had significantly higher practice scores (AOR = 4.102, p = 0.020).
Conclusion
There is a need to plan, design, and develop targeted educational programs to improve the awareness, attitude, and practice of the HCPs in disaster preparedness. Targeted interventions are essential to enhance HCPs’ preparedness for diverse disaster scenarios.