Communities coping with change: A conceptual model

Changing economic, political, environmental, and social conditions continue to have a cumulative impact on Australian regional communities, and in many instances, rural communities are being forced to initiate their own strategies in order to remain economically and socially viable. However, while c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of community psychology 2004-03, Vol.32 (2), p.201-216
Main Authors: Kelly, Gail J., Steed, Lyndall G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia
Change Strategies
Community Change
Community Characteristics
Community Development
Coping
Economic Change
Foreign Countries
Forestry
Intervention
Rural Areas
Social Change
Tourism
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Summary:Changing economic, political, environmental, and social conditions continue to have a cumulative impact on Australian regional communities, and in many instances, rural communities are being forced to initiate their own strategies in order to remain economically and socially viable. However, while communities respond in differing ways to similar change events, as do individuals, research examining the change process has largely been undertaken at the individual level. This article reports on an investigation of the characteristics that moderate a community's ability to manage change and the types of collective coping strategies communities employ to deal with change events. A model of community change process was used as the framework to examine the links between community characteristics, appraisal of change events (forest restructuring and tourism), and the use of collective strategies in three communities in Western Australia. Findings suggest that a community's mobilization of strategies is dependent on the collective assessment of the change event, the nature of the event, and the characteristics of the community. The implications for intervention through policy and community development are discussed briefly. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 32: 201–216, 2004.
ISSN:0090-4392
1520-6629
DOI:10.1002/jcop.10090