Date of Conferral

8-31-2026

Date of Award

August 2026

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Kerri Nottingham

Abstract

Although rural advocacy is widely recognized as important to community change, the experiences of rural and frontier advocates, particularly in regard to their use of storytelling to support skill acquisition, relational trust, and asset-focused advocacy competencies, have been understudied. The purpose of this constructivist grounded theory qualitative study was to understand how rural and frontier community advocates describe their experiences and how sharing lived experiences may inform advocacy competency development. Semistructured interviews were conducted with nine advocates across the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, including caregivers, health care professionals, educators, nonprofit leaders, and individuals with lived experience working to address behavioral and mental health access inequities. Data were analyzed through iterative coding, memoing, and thematic interpretation. Findings indicated that advocacy in rural and frontier communities is relational, values-driven, and shaped by both systemic barriers and local assets. Six themes emerged: pathways to advocacy, roles of advocates, rurality as context, storytelling in advocacy, skills and competencies, and advocacy impact. Storytelling functioned as both a relational and epistemological tool by building trust, humanizing need, transmitting practical knowledge, and strengthening community-based efficacy. The study offers a foundation for future advocacy training, research, and systems-change efforts grounded in the lived knowledge of rural communities.

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