Framework for crisis preparedness planning: Four required areas for developing a learning process.

Objective: To outline a framework for preparedness planning at the organizational level.

Design: The study is based on a content analysis of research literature as well as an analysis of interviews with six preparedness planners working in Swedish local authorities.

Setting: The study setting included Swedish local authorities of different sizes.

Subjects, Participants: The participants are preparedness planners responsible for coordinating crisis management work in Swedish local authorities. The study includes preparedness planners with different backgrounds, education, experiences, and gender.

Interventions: A presentation of 19 factors of preparedness planning identified in the literature and a discussion around how preparedness planners perceive those factors.

Main Outcome Measure(s): The main outcome measures are knowledge about how both researcher and practitioner understand and argue around different factors of preparedness planning.

Results: The result of this study is a framework for preparedness planning. As preparedness planning ought to be a learning process, the presented framework builds on four areas connected to learning: prerequisites for preparedness planning, who should be involved, what is to be learned, and how should the work be shaped.

Conclusions: The analysis of factors identified in the literature and also in the interviews with preparedness planners illustrates that the four areas connected to learning are required for developing a preparedness planning process.