Exploring the Information Worlds of Older Persons During Disasters

While there is a growing body of research on information behavior during nonroutine events such as natural disasters, the research has largely neglected older persons as a specific group despite their identification as a demographic that suffers disproportionately during disasters. To address this gap, this article reports on the study of the information behavior and related activities of older persons during natural disasters. Based on a qualitative study, we draw on the theory of information worlds to study the key activities of preparing, responding, and recovering from disasters. The article contributes to the information behavior literature by developing a more informed understanding of both the interrelationship between the information worlds and activities of older persons, and how older persons seek and share information during disasters.