The nuclear terrorist threat is far greater today than ever before, but the United States is unprepared to respond to the aftermath of a nuclear attack, whether perpetrated by rogue nuclear countries or the terrorist groups they support. Following the detonation of an improvised nuclear device (IND), citizens, not government personnel, become the first responders. Therefore, adult public education focused on preparing for and responding to an IND detonation is imperative for reducing the loss of human life and maximizing the safety of all Americans in the aftermath of a terrorist nuclear attack. Yet public education programs dating back to the early Cold War era have not effectively engaged adult citizens in learning about how best to prepare for nuclear attacks. From the perspective of the adult educator/theorist, what is lacking is a theoretical framework of public/community adult education specific to crises, disasters, and catastrophes that is focused on how adults learn. The aim of this study was to discover theoretical sensitizing concepts relative to nuclear terrorism preparedness that can contribute to the generating of an integrated theory of public education, which could be of value to emergency managers and disaster planners responsible for developing and implementing instruction for adults in the United States. A constructivist form of grounded theory--situational analysis--was used to systematically analyze a Cold War and a War on Terror narrative discourse sample. Findings revealed four sensitizing concepts: (a) temporal/spatial elements of adult education for nuclear terrorism preparedness in a post-9/11 world; (b) roles of and relationships between adult learners, instructors, and instructional content; (c) adult learners' emotions and beliefs; and (d) adult education in disaster/crisis situations and transformative learning theory. The four theoretical sensitizing concepts are organized in a final project map according to two domains--adult public/community education and emotional thought/social context. Two implications that may result from this study are (a) the application of the project map to further research aimed at developing an integrated theory of public/community education for adult nuclear terrorism preparedness and (b) the development of emergency management preparedness practices based on a pre- and post-nuclear explosion model. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]