Understanding Resilience In South Australian Farm Families

Abstract

AbstractDespite prolonged droughts over the last decade across rural South Australia the majority of farmers continue to farm. This research asks the questions, ‘what helps them to “get by”?’, and ‘does this mean that they are resilient?’. In this study, resilience implies a strengths-based approach to mental health and well-being whilst other drought response programs focus on identifying and responding to problems or deficits. In using resilience to understand mental health and wellbeing in farm families, we move beyond the perceptions that resilience is a series of traits or characteristics, which protect an individual from the impact of adversity. Instead, we view resilience as a systemic process embedded in the wider social contexts that enables individuals to make judgements and decisions for themselves, their families and their communities.Keywords: Rural mental healthResilienceFarm familyDrought Additional informationNotes on contributorsJennene GreenhillJennene Greenhill is the Director of the Rural Clinical School of Flinders University.Debra KingDebra King is from the National Institute for Labour Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.Anna LaneAnna Lane is from the National Institute for Labour Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.Colin MacDougallColin MacDougall is from the Discipline of Public Health and Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, Flinders University, Adelaide.