Rural Women and Isolation: Pathways to Reconnection

Abstract

Interviews with 21 women in a rural Colorado county yielded personal descriptions of isolation and the feelings and strategies that exist in response to isolating events and circumstances. Isolation emerged as three distinct categories of relational disconnection: from specific individuals; from nonspecific others, such as groups or the larger community; or as a combination of both. Factors affecting relational disconnection were choice, control, and duration. Women who had the support of significant others and those who connected with themselves through self-talk or the achievement of goals were often able to move beyond the isolating situation and successfully reconnect.