title: Community resiliency as a measure of collective health status: perspectives from rural communities.
abstract: Community resiliency is a theoretical framework useful for describing the process used by communities to address adversity. A mixed-method 2-year case study was conducted to gather information about community resiliency in 2 rural communities. This article focuses on the themes generated from qualitative interviews with 55 members of these communities. The participants viewed community as a place of interdependence and interaction. The majority saw community resiliency as the ability to address challenges. Characteristics included physical and social infrastructure, population characteristics, conceptual characteristics, and problem-solving processes. Barriers included negative individual attitudes and lack of infrastructure in rural communities. Nurses could play a key role in enhancing the resiliency of rural communities by developing and implementing programs based on the Community Resiliency Model, which was supported in this study.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. kulig@uleth.ca
authors.forename: Judith C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kulig
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Edge
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Joyce
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000416:Alberta; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003256:Community Participation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D011340:Problem Solving; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012933:Social Identification; D012944:Social Support