| Abstract: | ABSTRACT This article reports preliminary findings on the development of an index that measures outreach workers' perceptions of the provision of services to survivors of natural disasters. Data were collected from a sample of 64 outreach counselors who worked for Project Recovery during the Great Flood of 1993 along the Mississippi River in Illinois. Factor analyses were used to identify a 15 item index. The fifteen items represent five factors which explained 82.2% of the variance among the items. The resulting Disaster Outreach Service Provision (DOSP) Index has acceptable reliability estimates (Alpha = .83) and appears normally distributed. The index represents an important step in filling the need for measurement instruments designed specifically for use in natural disaster situations. Such instruments can be used in evaluating the provision of disaster relief services and in conducting disaster related research. |
