Accidents and Accountability: Perceptions of Unintentional Injury in Three National Parks

Abstract

Each year, national park visitors suffer unintentional injuries and fatalities that affect not only the victims but also the National Park Service (NPS) staff tasked with preventing and responding to such incidents. Using survey data from three national parks, this study examines differences in visitors’ and park employees’ causal attributions of a hypothetical visitor accident. We argue that differences in attributions suggest that support for risk management strategies may not be universal, and that communication strategies applied in national parks can be informed by these differences.

Keywords:

• attribution theory
• national parks
• public health
• risk communication
• risk management