Aging in Rural Places: Programs, Policies, and Professional Practice

Research documents that rural elders are poorer, live in less adequate housing, and have far fewer health and service options available to them than their urban counterparts, yet there is a critical lack of current and detailed information on the problems facing rural elders and on the professional practices that serve this population. This text fills this gap by introducing readers to rural areas and their residents and discussing the issues, programs, and policies designed to meet their needs. Through a multidisciplinary lens, it examines and defines specific competencies required for successful work with older adults and their families in these communities.

The text presents a research-driven, competency-based approach for the health and human service professionals who work with older rural residents. It discusses both the problems facing older adults and their families and evidence-based solutions regarding policy and best practices. Key issues examined include health and wellness, transportation, housing, long-term care, income, employment, and retirement, along with the needs of special populations (ethnic minorities, immigrants, and the LGBT population). Case examples reinforce an interdisciplinary model that addresses practice with rural elders that encompasses professional competencies, values and ethics, and the roles of a spectrum of health and human service professionals. The text also examines current policies affecting health and social services to rural elders and recommendations for policy change to build an effective health and human service workforce in rural communities. Links to Podcast interviews with scholars and respected professionals working in the field and "Spotlight" excerpts from the text reinforce information. In addition, the text provides discussion questions, PowerPoint slides, a test question bank, and suggested activities and exercises.

Key Features:

• Fills a vacuum regarding information on health and social services for rural elders
• Provides current and comprehensive knowledge about issues besetting this population and programs and policies designed to meet their needs
• Examines and defines specific competencies required for effective health and social services
• Based on a research-driven, competency-based, interdisciplinary approach to policy and best practice
• Includes links to Podcast interviews with scholars and respected professionals in the field

Kristina M. Hash, LICSW, PhD, is Associate Professor, School of Social Work and Director, Gerontology Certificate Program, West Virginia University. She is an expert trainer and consultant for the Council on Social Work Education's National Center for Gerontological Social Work Education, was one of 15 participants chosen nationally for the National Institute of Aging (NIA) First Annual Institute on Aging and Social Work, and has been an investigator for four geriatric education grants funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation and the DHHS/HRRSA/Bureau of Health professions. She was a recipient of the Outstanding Principal Investigator Award from the New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute, the David Z. Morgan Award for Excellence in Geriatric Education from the West Virginia Geriatric Education Center and the West Virginia Geriatrics Society, and the Judith Gold Stitzel Award for teaching and leadership from the West Virginia University Center for Women's Studies. Her practice background includes positions in home health care, social work continuing education, and research and program evaluation. Additionally, she has been involved in several volunteer activities with community-based agencies serving older adults. Dr. Hash's work has been published in theJournal of Gerontological Social Work, Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, Clinical Social Work Journal, and Geriatric and Gerontology Education, as well as in edited books.