"Never in the Loop": Information Access Emerges As Shared Concern in Communities Affected By Hurricane, Pandemic

Background and Purpose: This research was conducted in a state that has experienced 57 weather and climate disasters within the last six years, each exceeding $1 billion in damages. COVID-19 exacerbated inequities in relief and recovery from these prior storms.

In this context, a team of researchers and community partners sought to build knowledge about how members of disaster-impacted communities experience civic engagement and to help these communities identify specific, actionable strategies to strengthen civic engagement. A community-based participatory research (CBPR) design using qualitative methodologies explored facilitators and barriers to civic engagement through the experiences of members of four communities affected by a Category IV hurricane (Study 1).

As the team completed data collection, the COVID pandemic hit. Researchers worked with three additional communities to create a supplemental study, utilizing a virtual CBPR design and qualitative methodologies to explore members’ experiences of facilitators and barriers to civic engagement during the COVID pandemic (Study 2).

Methods: Study 1 was developed in consultation with a community civic engagement collaborative and organizations in four diverse communities. Eight community-based co-researchers (Co-Rs) received IRB training and participated in instrument development, recruitment, focus group (26; n=190) and interview (n=14) facilitation in five languages, data analysis and interpretation, and community-based dissemination.

In partnership with organizations in three additional communities, Study 2’s 9 Co-Rs were similarly trained (albeit virtually) and actively guided the research process, including protocol development, conducting virtual focus groups (20 groups, n=119) and interviews (n=9) in two languages, preliminary data analysis and interpretation, and community-based dissemination.

Transcripts were analyzed from the ground up using in-vivo coding. Thematic and qualitative content analysis, member checking, and multiple comparative analyses addressed rigor and trustworthiness.

Results: Although the studies sought to illuminate civic experiences in the face of two vastly different disruptions, researchers began to notice key similarities. In both studies, themes surrounding information access emerged, as participants described both benefits from clear, accessible information and feelings of community disconnection when quality information was not available.

In both studies, technology provided a pathway for community members to connect, while technology limitations impeded information accessibility. Issues surrounding information quality and trustworthiness, and its function in maintaining social inequities during and after a crisis, emerged in both studies. In multiple communities, participants expressed a feeling captured by a Study 2 participant, “We never in the loop.” Feelings of exclusion emerged through language barriers, poorly tailored information and limited access to information about seeking supports (e.g., ways to protect one’s home, accessing disaster relief, COVID precautions).

Conclusions and Implications: The similarities across these studies around information access can help inform supportive structural responses for communities in the aftermath of an environmental or health crisis. During and after crises, governments have an obligation to disseminate timely and accurate information so individuals and communities can make informed health and safety decisions. As disasters compound and biological threats deepen inequities impacting already marginalized populations, this research reveals commonalities in those experiences, and a blueprint for engaging community members to achieve social change.