Exploring disaster preparedness: a scoping review of adult and continuing education approaches in international civil protection research

Throughout the world, risks are becoming more complex due to the interdependence of social, economic and environmental systems. Disaster preparedness is therefore becoming increasingly important. On the one hand, adults are expected to have disaster preparedness skills to anticipate and respond to potential disasters in their private and professional contexts. On the other hand, different levels of preparedness and consequently different approaches to preparedness are evident in different countries and regions and at different points in time. In order to analyse these processes and their evolution, an adult education perspective is helpful, going beyond existing studies on general public awareness of disaster preparedness and the focus on informing people. This scoping review therefore examines the available international research on disaster preparedness, particularly from the perspective of adult and continuing education. For the scoping review, selected online literature databases were searched for scientific and grey literature published between 1945 and 2024. It shows that research on disaster preparedness in relation to adult education is growing, although often with a focus on the professional context rather than that of the general adult population. Furthermore, research priorities seem to be influenced by a temporal, local and political context, but are moving towards a holistic approach to disasters. However, adult education often seems to be neglected, except in specific professional contexts. In addition to presenting the findings, the paper discusses them in the light of four key messages and identifies avenues for future research.