‘Prepare’ yourself: The impact of the UK ‘Prepare’ website on public preparedness for emergencies and adverse events in England

Given the challenges facing the UK in relation to health security, the development and evaluation of risk communication resources is essential to support public response and recovery to adverse events. While online resources are frequently utilised in emergency preparedness and response contexts, there is limited research focusing on the impact of these resources on attitudes and behaviours related to preparedness. The aim of the current study was to examine the impact of a newly developed UK Government website (‘Prepare’) on behaviours, knowledge and attitudes associated with emergency preparedness and resilience. The results revealed that while there were no significant changes in attitudes towards preparedness or public perceptions of resilience following website engagement, participants who viewed the ‘Prepare’ website had completed a significantly higher number of individual preparedness actions post website engagement (compared to pre website engagement) than had those who viewed a control website. While these results are promising, future research should further examine the impact of online risk communication materials to understand their role in incident response and recovery. • Participants who engaged with the UK Government ‘Prepare’ website completed a significantly higher number of individual preparedness actions following website engagement • No significant change in individual preparedness actions was observed for the control group • Participants who engaged with the ‘Prepare’ website felt significantly more informed about measures and plans in place in their local area following website engagement