Publications (2)0 Total impact
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Article: Exploring Culture: Audience Predispositions and Consequent Effects on Audience Behavior in a Mass-Gathering Setting.
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ABSTRACT: Introduction The purpose of this critical review is to look at the current literature regarding mass gatherings and to create further understanding of this area with a particular focus on what the audience brings with them to the event, particularly in a planned event with a cultural theme or focus. Through an understanding of these predispositions and consequent effects on audience behavior in a mass-gathering setting, a more complete understanding of motivation factors of crowds and audiences can also be found. METHODS: A critical review of mass-gathering literature was undertaken by searching various online academic databases. Peer-reviewed scholarly articles relevant to the cultural aspects associated with religious, sporting and music mass gatherings were also analyzed. RESULTS: Results from the review show that the word "culture" is often used to explain what happens at the event without reflecting how the motivations or behaviors of audiences at an event are influenced by the cultural predispositions of the audience. CONCLUSIONS: By understanding the cultural predispositions of the audience, event planners and designers, event risk managers and event safety personnel are able to better understand the motivation of the audience and how this might impact on audience behavior at the event. Further work needs to be done, however, to investigate the broader range of predispositions. The ultimate aim of developing this understanding is to better inform the health promotion and public health messages that can be developed for a particular type of event based on the likely composition of the audience in attendance. Hutton A , Brown S , Verdonk N . Exploring culture: audience predispositions and consequent effects on audience behavior in a mass-gathering setting. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2013;28(3):1-6 .Prehospital and disaster medicine: the official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the World Association for Emergency and Disaster Medicine in association with the Acute Care Foundation 03/2013; -
Article: Assessing the psychosocial elements of crowds at mass gatherings.
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ABSTRACT: The environmental aspects of mass gatherings that can affect the health and safety of the crowd have been well described. Although it has been recognized that the nature of the crowd will directly impact the health and safety of the crowd, the majority of research focuses on crowd behavior in a negative context such as violence or conflict. Within the mass gathering literature, there is no agreement on what crowd behavior, crowd mood and crowd type actually mean. At the same time, these elements have a number of applications, including event management and mass gathering medicine. These questions are worthy of exploration. This paper will report on a pilot project undertaken to evaluate how effective current crowd assessment tools are in understanding the psychosocial domain of a mass gathering event. The pilot project highlighted the need for a more consistent descriptive data set that focuses on crowd behavior. The descriptive data collected in this study provide a beginning insight into the science of understanding crowds at a mass gathering event. This pilot has commenced a process of quantifying the psychosocial nature of an event. To maximize the value of this work, future research is required to understand the interplay among the three domains of mass gatherings (physical, environmental and psychological), along with the effects of each element within the domains on safety and health outcomes for participants at mass gatherings.Prehospital and disaster medicine: the official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the World Association for Emergency and Disaster Medicine in association with the Acute Care Foundation 26(6):414-21.
