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.