Taking a strengths-based approach to mental health in rural communities: A systematic literature review

Objectives

This review aimed to 1) identify existing rural strengths in the literature that proposed a relationship to mental health, 2) classify strengths into a socioecological framework, and 3) identify which strengths make a conceptual link to improved mental health.

Methods

Literature was systematically reviewed using online databases (PubMed, PsycInfo, CINAHL, and Scopus). Applicable original research studies that met the inclusion criteria, published (1990–2022) from Australia, Canada, and the United States were thematically analysed.

Results

Sixty-one articles from Australia (n=28, 46%), Canada (n=8, 13%), and the United States (n=25, 41%) identified mental health-strengths relationships (e.g. social networks, nature). Twenty-seven studies proposed conceptual links to improved mental health and identified potential 'mechanisms' to harness strengths (e.g. identification, referral).

Conclusions

Despite an entrenched rural deficit discourse, many strengths of rural communities were identified in the literature that, using an adapted socioecological framework to categorise, may be harnessed to improve the mental health of communities across the socioecological continuum.

Implications for public health

Understanding existing strengths that are embedded in rural communities can inform future mental health policy and commissioning models in a way that is relevant and sustainable for communities, while recognising rural agency.