Purpose: A literature review was performed to assess the role of physician assistants (PAs) in rural health care. Four categories were examined: scope of practice, physician perceptions, community perceptions, and retention/recruitment. Methods: A search of the literature from 1974 to 2008 was undertaken by probing the electronic bibliographic…

Reviews social-work research concerning the differences between rural and urban practice, how rural social workers feel about their practice, and what needs to be taught in professional social-work schools. Suggests a more useful agenda for social-work research. Describes a West Virginia study that identified the research interests of the human…

Reviews various sociological concepts of "rural" and the definitional problems related to occupational, sociocultural, ecological, and multidimensional conceptions of rurality. Describes and recommends multidimensional typologies developed by the United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Services and the Maine State Planning…

In 1998 the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics held a working conference on issues pertaining to effective mathematics education in schools serving poor communities. This paper reprises some themes of that conference and highlights potentially important issues to consider in a research agenda with an intentional focus on rural mathematics…

More research into illicit substance abuse in rural African-American communities is needed. The existing literature indicates that patterns of use for licit substances (alcohol and cigarettes) are either similar for rural Blacks and Whites or lower for Blacks. However, the negative health and social consequences of smoking and abusive drinking are…

Historically, little has been written or researched about British rural youth. Since the late 1970s, however, largely as a result of initiatives within the Youth Service, rural youth have become identified as a separate, definable area of concern and study. The present trend toward high unemployment is hitting young people particularly hard,…

Rural elderly in the United States have been an unknown, neglected, and underserved minority. In order to understand effectively and fully their values, needs, systems, and identities and to assist them in their well-being through a well-integrated system, educational gerontology must take responsible leadership. (Author)

This report reviews research on rural education produced between 1986 and 1993. The review focuses on equity of educational opportunity; financial, curricular, and staffing issues; research agendas; and educational reform. The literature demonstrates that educational opportunity for rural school populations often is substandard, especially when…

Very little research has examined drug and alcohol use among rural Mexican-Americans, and the few existing studies have yielded mixed results. Some authors have suggested that substance use by Mexican-American youth is similar to that of Anglo youth, but at least one study has shown that Mexican-American females use drugs at a higher rate than do…

Reviews the rural physician shortage and related policy and research needs. Discusses geographic distribution of physicians, quality of rural care, rural recruitment and retention, rural residency training, factors in medical education affecting entry into rural practice, physician productivity and income, reimbursement, federal and state programs…

Analysis of current literature indicates that the process and the outcome of social studies education in rural communities is little different from that in the rest of the country. Despite the excitement surrounding the "Foxfire" program in rural Georgia and the efforts of curriculum innovators, students in rural America are likely to encounter a…

Although roots of adult education can be traced back more than a century, rural adult education is an emerging discipline in American education which has yet to develop an established research base. Recent research has established that rural adult learners look like, act like, and learn like urban adult learners, but their opportunities for…

A review of research yields nine conclusions concerning mathematics achievement among rural and urban students. Among them are that currently a national rural vs. non-rural mathematics achievement gap does not exist; at the state level, a rural vs. non-rural achievement gap exists in 40 percent of the states, and that gap is evenly split between…

In an effort to help shape a research agenda for rural education, this document reviews the research on rural education and at-risk students to determine the relative influence on student outcomes of poverty and community location. Sections of this review address: methodological considerations (definitions of "rural" and "at-risk," inadequate…

This chapter reviews the literature on substance abuse and prevention efforts in Native communities. The first section describes demographic characteristics of America's indigenous people, including tribal and government definitions, interaction and validation styles, and rural-urban differences. It concludes by warning that use of broad ethnic…