Sections and Chapters

Chapter 2.5 Identifying and engaging high-risk groups in disaster research

Chapter 2.5 describes how to identify and support high-risk groups in disaster research by:

1. Describing high-risk groups in the community.
2. Addressing barriers to inclusion through strategies for sampling, recruitment and data collection.
3. Engaging co-researchers or community advisors within the population of interest to ensure inclusive, ethically responsible research processes, and valid findings.

Identifying high-risk groups and engaging them in Health EDRM research is a challenge. Understanding how to identify and support these groups can help researchers to deliver reliable evidence for decision-makers.

This chapter presents a concise literature review, with information from high-, middle- and low-income countries, to provide guidance for conducting inclusive and ethically responsible research that includes people from high-risk groups. It describes high-risk populations and the common factors that may increase vulnerability. These include age-related factors, gender and sexual identities, and pre-existing chronic conditions.

1. Conducting mixed methods disaster research on adolescent engagement in disaster risk reduction in China and Nepal.
2. Assessing the impact of Hurricane Katrina on persons with chronic disease.

What are the key messages of this chapter?  

• Health EDRM research with an inclusive focus on high-risk populations should be conducted across the entire disaster cycle and may vary according to the characteristics of the disaster and community.
• Children, elderly, gender and sexual minorities, those with pre-existing chronic conditions or disabilities, ethnic minorities, migrants, displaced persons and other marginalized groups may be at risk of systemic challenges before, during and after disasters that should be considered in Health EDRM research. Intersectionality plays a significant role in capacities and heightened vulnerabilities.
• High-risk populations may be difficult to reach, which should inform sampling, recruitment and data collection.
• Inclusive and ethically responsible research protocols must consider the impact of research on high-risk populations and guide reliable and thoughtful dissemination of findings.