Otpornost ruralnih područja Republike Hrvatske na temelju pokazatelja kvalitete života
Authors:   , Ivanović Vladimir 
Published: May 2024

Quality of life and resilience research of Croatian rural areas highlights the important role of rural areas in European Union development strategies and indicates the lack of comprehensive and holistic research on this topic in Croatian sociology. Given that over 90% of Croatian territory is classified as rural and over 40% of the country's population lives in rural settlements, research on the quality of life and resilience of rural areas deserves a special place in Croatian sociology. The main goal of this dissertation is to explore the quality of life holistically and to present the main capacities for resilience on which rural residents can rely. The specific goals of this dissertation are to conceptualize and operationalize key quality of life and resilience concepts, as well as empirically examine the quality of life of Croatian rural residents and determine their capacities for resilience. The research questions in this dissertation are as follows: (1) How do Croatian rural residents perceive their personal quality of life?, (2) What objective and subjective quality of life indicators do rural residents report as important for their quality of life in rural areas?, and (3) What capacities for resilience do Croatian rural residents have at their disposal? These research questions were constructed to provide in-depth answers reflecting traditional qualitative research practices. Five quality of life domains were selected based on a detailed review of theoretical and empirical work on quality of life concepts, wellbeing and social resilience, and drawing on classical and modern rural sociologists. The five domains served as the basis for creating the interview protocol, which included both subjective and objective quality of life indicators. The selected quality of life domains are: (1) Social and community infrastructure, (2) Personal health and life satisfaction, (3) Social world, (4) Physical world, and (5) Activities. To answer the research questions and achieve the goals of the dissertation, the research relied on a qualitative approach. Accordingly, face-to-face, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a non-probabilistic sample of rural residents in Croatian rural settlements. A total of 53 interviews were included in the main analysis. The convenient sample was evenly distributed by gender, age groups, and defined regions, all facilitating data collection. The interviews were run through two coding cycles, after which themes were generated using deductive-inductive thematic analysis. The deductive-inductive thematic analysis provided three main themes: (1) Aspects of and satisfaction with living conditions, work, and housing, (2) Rural lifestyle, and (3) Changes in life and work in rural areas. Given that the dissertation relies on a qualitative perspective, interviews with residents and their experiences were used to create the themes and categories, rather than using previously theoretically constructed categories. The overall results show that rural residents are generally satisfied with their lives, highlighting formal and informal social relationships, social cohesion and solidarity in their communities, and a connection with the natural environment as some of the most important aspects of rural quality of life. Some of the problems highlighted by rural residents are mainly related to inadequate infrastructure, inadequate employment opportunities, and limited access to public services. Linking these key findings to resilience capacities paints a picture of rural residents as self-sufficient, relying on themselves, the community, and the natural environment to cope with encountered threats and problems. An important aspect of this dissertation is the different responses of respondents in terms of gender and age, as some issues were more problematic for women, younger people and older rural residents. Another important finding is that there are significant regional differences in some objective aspects of quality of life. The findings also suggest that rural people in Croatia have both coping and adaptive capacities, given that they rely on their communities and the surrounding natural environment to maintain their current levels of quality of life. Transformative capacities, which sociological theory suggests offer the greatest potential for strengthening individual and social resilience and improving quality of life, are present in rural Croatia in terms of the natural environment, projects, and active participation in local socio-political life. However, it is clear from the data analysis that even transformative capacities for resilience rely on residents taking matters into their own hands. Thus, these findings show that resilience and the capacities for it depend almost entirely on rural residents themselves and their communities, which, albeit functioning, is insufficient for the long-term development and preservation of Croatia's rural areas. This research has also shown a significant lack of rural-focused developmental strategies. The main implications of the dissertation results are that future policies and strategic documents should include region-specific data, as this research has revealed that there are sometimes glaring regional differences regarding aspects of quality of life. In summary, the results have helped achieve the main goal of the dissertation and the specific objectives while also providing detailed answers to the research questions. This dissertation provides a solid foundation for future sociological research on the quality of life and resilience of rural areas. It also provides relevant and up-to-date research on rural areas that can serve as a basis for future development strategies for Croatian rural areas in order to strengthen resilience and improve the quality of life of its rural residents.