Understanding Community Resiliency in Rural Communities through Multimethod Research

Abstract

Community resiliency is a theoretical framework and social process that attempts to explain how communities address adversity. Generating information about this concept has largely been accomplished through qualitative research methods and the development of the Resiliency Scale, which was based upon previous qualitative research on the topic. A multimethod study was used to explore community resiliency in two rural communities and one urban neighborhood. In this article we specifically examine: “What are the merits of employing different research methods to explore community resiliency and health status?” Qualitative interviews, a household survey, and analysis of provincial health databases were all used. The understanding of community resiliency as identified from each of these three methods as well as a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each method is presented.