ABSTRACT
Protection Motivation
Theory (PMT) was developed by Rogers in 1975, to describe how individuals are motivated to react in a self-protective
way towards a perceived health threat. Rogers
expected the use of PMT to diversify over time, which has proved true over four
decades. The purpose of this paper is to explore how PMT can be used and
expanded to inform and improve public safety strategies in natural hazards. As global
climate change impacts on the Australian environment, natural hazards seem to
be increasing in scale and frequency, and Emergency Services’ public education
campaigns have necessarily escalated to keep pace with perceived public
threat. Of concern, is that the
awareness-preparedness gap in residents’ survival plans is narrowing disproportionately
slowly compared to the magnitude of resources applied to rectify this trend.
Practical applications of adaptable social theory could be used to help resolve
this dilemma.