Rural outreach in community mental health centers involves staff commuting from a central agency to surrounding rural towns to provide clinical and/or community service. The problem for outreach staff is how to best provide services to a rural network that is distant and different from the urban network. In general the greater the distance, the…

In their roles as writers, editors, and photographers for community newspapers, women helped to record the economic, social, and political fluctuations that comprise the past. In villages and towns, however, the boundaries of and limits on acceptable female activity were as strong as they were in the cities. Women in community newspapers may have…

Rural areas have fewer health services and are proportionally underrepresented in practicing mental health professionals. For community psychology to meet the needs of rural populations, new training approaches for community psychologists will need to be developed. New areas of prevention and intervention will require roles and functions different…

There are two stories about political trends affecting nonmetropolitan America. The old story, which is the story of declining rural population and declining rural influence on public policy formation, has its roots in early deliberations about governance in this country. Jefferson's republicanism focused on direct citizen involvement in decision…

To be scientific, rural sociology must have a distinctive conceptual basis; therefore, defining "rural" has long been a major concern of rural sociologists. Recently faced with similar problems, political economists have revitalized the field of urban sociology by looking beyond the city to the social production of spatial forms under…

This paper presents a model for rural social service outreach programs, based upon the following: (1) an explanation of various resource systems and how they are related to outreach services; (2) current economic and social conditions of rural areas; (3) rural client systems; (4) the relationship of the agricultural extension model to rural…

The Geriatric Assessment Unit (GAU), which has proven successful in urban areas, may be a viable system for providing health care to the elderly in rural areas. GAUs engage in assessment, follow-up response to findings, education, and research. The assessment component includes, at minimum, physical health, functional ability in activities of…

Medical students that come from rural areas are more likely to return to rural areas to practice, but rural students apply for medical school at half the rate of urban students. Factors that contribute to this problem are the lack of rural representation on medical school selection committees; centralization of medical education facilities in…

The paper focuses on the differences which characterize rural schools and suggests ways in which teacher preparation programs might train beginning teachers specifically for rural schools. Section 1 describes ways in which teacher preparation programs can help prospective teachers prepare for the breadth of responsibilities expected in rural…

This paper examines the extent to which rural America is digital--has access to the Internet and to newer technologies such as wireless broadband--and discusses rural supply and demand for "going digital." Supply aspects include issues of both infrastructure and public policy. Demand aspects include entrepreneurs (business users) and…

In 1986, of 32 million Americans who were poor, nearly ten million, or 30%, lived in nonmetropolitan or rural areas containing only 22% of the nation's population. While metropolitan poverty rates have declined somewhat since 1983 as a result of economic recovery, nonmetropolitan poverty rates have remained relatively high. Rural poverty is not to…

Rural people in their environment have the necessary attributes to successfully endure and survive those trials that would lead to urban decline. As societal problems require increased investment in existing institutions, the growing complexity eventually yields a lower level of benefits or returns. Urban problems such as hunger, homelessness, and…

While educational institutions in rural America present unique characteristics and offer opportunities for administrative excellence, educators have tended to overlook rural resources and the possibility of implementing educational programs in community life, which in turn, would reflect the heritage of rural culture and values. This paper…

People United for Rural Education (PURE), organized in Iowa in 1977, now has about 3,000 members in 23 states and 3 foreign countries. PURE's purpose is to ensure the survival of rural schools and to promote rural life as a viable and credible way of life. One of the organization's most difficult tasks is to counteract urban attitudes towards…

Outdoor education is a "process of education, a way of teaching which uses the outdoors as the major education facility and which actively involves students in the real world situations where learning takes place." Population shifts now place more than 85 per cent of the population in an urban society. If children from these environments are to…