The Challenge
To advance equitable health and well-being in rural communities, the abilities of existing systems to meet the evolving needs of rural residents need to be evaluated by engaging community stakeholders. Research from our Rural Families Speak projects documents that rural, low-income families are resilient (e.g., Cancel-Tirado et al., 2018). In alignment with the United Nation’s (2023) and USDA’s (2022) sustainability goals, we will build on our research to understand how rural sustainable systems can promote individual, family, and community resilience. Promoting health and well-being in rural communities is complex, as there are many unique and varied factors impacting daily life (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; King et al., 2014). These factors are intertwined with sustainable systems. There are “three pillars” of sustainability—environmental, economic, and social sustainable systems—which must be examined thoroughly (Purvis et al., 2019). These pillars are interconnected in ways that can reinforce or detract from one another (Guptill & the SARE Quality-of-Life Working Group, 2021).
Current Research and Outreach Objectives
Objective 1: Examine Rural, Low-Income Family Systems Functioning and Resilience
The project will examine variations family system functioning of diverse rural, low-income families across the US and multilevel factors and processes associated with individual, family, and community resilience in rural areas.
Objective 2: Investigate the Implications of Rural Sustainability for Family Systems Functioning and Resilience
The project will investigate the implications of the three pillars of sustainability (environment, economic, and social sustainable systems), separately and system-to-system interactions—for variations in family system functioning and individual, family, and community resilience.
Objective 3: Strengthen Rural Sustainable Systems, Family Functioning, and Resilience
The project will translate research to practice and its dissemination. We propose to collaborate with rural family-serving professionals to identify strategies to strengthen rural sustainability systems, family functioning, and multilevel resilience.