Community resiliency: the potential for community health nursing theory development

Public Health Nurs. 2000 Sep-Oct;17(5):374-85. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1446.2000.00374.x.

Abstract

There is insufficient theory development within community health nursing that addresses the community as a collective and not simply as groupings of aggregates. Conceptual clarification of nursing's domains is needed, however, before theory development can take place. In an attempt to rectify this situation, this article discusses the environment domain. Community resiliency, or the ability of a community to deal with adversity and in so doing reach a higher level of functioning, is presented as a useful framework to gain greater understanding of this particular domain. Findings from research that have resulted in a community resiliency model for describing the environment domain, within which rural-based community health nurses (CHNs) work, are presented. The relevance for community health nursing theory is included with recommendations for future research and subsequent theory development.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Canada
  • Community Health Nursing / methods*
  • Humans
  • Nursing Theory*
  • Rural Health Services
  • Social Conditions*
  • Sociology