Together and Safe: Mothers' Experiences with Communicating to their Children About Wildfires Before, During, and After Evacuation

Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The 2016 Horse River wildfire in Northern Alberta devastated the community of Fort McMurray and surrounding areas, forcing residents to evacuate from their homes with little notice. Parents’ approach and style of communicating to their children about this event is critical in supporting family adaptability, resiliency, and children’s competence in making sense and meaning from their experience. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the researchers sought to understand how parents make sense of their communication strategies to their children surrounding the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire evacuation. Parents’ patterns of supporting their children were identified in the interviews of six Fort McMurray residents regarding their evacuation experiences. Results indicated three overarching themes of parents’ approaches to support: constructing realities, shaping values, and fostering independent construction. Understanding how parents effectively navigate natural disaster evacuations will assist professionals in meeting families’ needs in disasters and times of stress.
Description
Keywords
Educational Psychology, Education--Guidance and Counseling, Education--Language and Literature, Canadian Studies, Individual and Family Studies, Environmental Sciences, Mental Health, Psychology--Developmental, Psychology--Social
Citation
Stone, J. (2017). Together and Safe: Mothers' Experiences with Communicating to their Children About Wildfires Before, During, and After Evacuation (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28461