@article {bnh-8302, title = {Struggling to make sense of it all: the emotional process of sensemaking following an extreme incident}, journal = {Human Relations}, year = {2021}, month = {12/2021}, abstract = {

Organizations operating in extreme contexts regularly face dangerous incidents they can neither prevent nor easily control. In such circumstances, successful sensemaking can mean the difference between life and death. But what happens afterwards? Our study of emergency management practitioners following a major bushfire reveals a process of post-incident sensemaking during which practitioners continue to make sense of the incident after it ends, during the subsequent public inquiry, and as they try to implement the inquiry{\textquoteright}s recommendations. Different varieties of sensemaking arise during this process as practitioners rely on different forms of coping to develop and share new understandings, which not only make sense of the original incident, but also enable changes to help the organization deal with future incidents. Our study also shows that practitioners experience a range of emotions during this process, some of which inhibit sensemaking while others {\textendash} particularly different forms of anxiety {\textendash} can facilitate it. Our study makes an important empirical contribution to recent theoretical work on varieties of sensemaking and provides new insights into the complex role of emotions in sensemaking in extreme contexts.

}, keywords = {Coping, crises and disasters, emotions, inquiries, organisational change, sensemaking}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1177\%2F00187267211059464}, url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00187267211059464}, author = {Graham Dwyer and Cynthia Hardy and Haridimos Tsoukas} } @article {bnh-5616, title = {Australian householders{\textquoteright} psychological preparedness for potential natural hazard threats: An exploration of contributing factors}, journal = {International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction}, year = {2019}, month = {06/2019}, abstract = {

Considerable attention has been given by researchers to householders{\textquoteright} material, or physical, preparedness for impact of a severe natural hazard. Somewhat less attention has been paid to psychological preparedness for such an event. This paper first reviews conceptual formulations of psychological preparedness for disasters, and self-report measures of the construct. Previous research findings about correlates of psychological preparedness are discussed. We report findings from a survey of 1,253 Australian households. Scores on two psychological preparedness subscales (Knowledge and management, Anticipation and awareness) were correlated with scores on a measure of material preparedness. For both women and men, seven factors were found to be associated with both psychological and material preparedness: (a) information awareness about psychological preparedness, (b) previous emergency services training or experience, (c) previous experience of natural hazard threat, (d) higher mindfulness scores, (e) higher active engagement coping style scores, (f) low stress scores, and (g) low depression scores. It was concluded that important issues remain to be addressed about how householder psychological preparedness for disasters is best conceptualised, measured, and modified.

}, keywords = {Coping, disasters, Mindfulness, Natural hazards, Psychological preparedness, Stress}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101203}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420918310690}, author = {Danielle Every and Jim McLennan and Amy Reynolds and Trigg, Josh} }