Why Rural
why rural?
It is said that 1 in 5 people in Scotland live in rural communities and yet we know that policies related to mental health & wellbeing can often be more influenced by the reality of those living in more densely populated areas of the country.
We are interested in exploring the role of mental health and wellbeing research with communities that do not live in large towns and cities and who instead live in small towns and rural areas in both mainland Scotland and across the Scottish islands. We believe that these geographies encourage a different way of being in the world, and often require a different style of engagement, whether for practical, social or cultural reasons.
How are we defining ‘rural’?
There are many different ways to describe non-urban parts of Scotland and not everyone agrees with what the best terminology should be. For the purposes of this survey, we are using the ‘Rural-Urban-Island Classification for Scotland’, developed by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) as part of the Scottish Government Strategic Research Programme on ‘Novel Insights into Scottish Rural and Island Economies’ (NISRIE).
who can fill in this survey?
We’re interested in hearing from people aged 16 or over, who currently live in rural Scotland, or have lived there within the past 12 months, regardless of whether they were born or grew up there or not. This includes people living in mainland Scotland or in the Scottish islands.
If you live in any of the areas on this map that are coloured either orange, blue, red or purple - which represent mainland and island small towns or rural areas - we would love for you to complete this survey.
For the purposes of this survey, we’re asking people who live in any of the areas coloured black on the map not to complete the survey, as these represent some of Scotland’s larger towns and cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Ayr, Greenock and Dumfries.
If you’re not sure, or if have something to say about this subject, but you no longer live in a rural area of Scotland (or you live in an area you consider to be rural but that is coloured black on the map), we would still love to hear from you so please get in touch via this link and we’d be happy to find other ways for you to get involved in the project.