This paper examines the attempts made by the renewing kibbutzim to maintain their way of life as much as possible through the adjustment of their gating mechanisms. In this type of a rural gated community, sorting procedures and admittance criteria of nonmembers are the most notable elements. Background material and interviews with informants at…

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies provide a range of services to help people with disabilities become employed. How services are delivered, however, depends on several factors including client interests and abilities as well as economic opportunities within the local community. For better or worse, rural and urban clients face vastly…

As a means to involve the public in research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Partners in Research Program and solicited research grant applications from academic/scientific institutions and community organizations that proposed to forge partnerships: (a) to study methods and strategies to engage and inform the public…

This article argues that a commonly neglected dimension in service-learning pedagogy is the consideration of community perspectives in developing these service-learning projects. Areas considered in this study were: (1) Community members' needs and problems, (2) Community members' perceived roles and participation, and (3) Community members'…

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationships among housing satisfaction, community attachment and community satisfaction and the complex mechanisms involved in predicting community satisfaction among residents in rural communities. The role of housing satisfaction and community attachment in predicting community satisfaction was…

Recently, scholars have begun to explore questions of regionalism and regionalization in rural contexts. Regionalism is often understood and presented as a pragmatic solution to intractable problems of fragmentation, inefficiency, accountability, spillover and neglect in the face of economic restructuring and other external threats. These…

Geographical, economic, social and cultural barriers to accessing services in rural areas are widely reported. Less widely discussed are dilemmas posed by individual and community reluctance to address sensitive health issues. This article, focusing on the highly sensitive area of mental health, and employing a participatory action approach,…

Examines housing conditions and attitudes of 46 predominantly Black residents of substandard single family houses in a rural Georgia community. Finds houses lack indoor plumbing and need serious repairs, but residents like their homes, prefer to stay, and would welcome housing assistance programs. Offers recommendations for improving rural…

This study uses key informant and survey methodology to examine the attitudes and readiness for technology transfer among residents of one economically hard hit community and concludes that the pervading depression and sense of hopelessness counters the conditions required for them to be successful. (JOW)

It is concluded from an investigation of the nature of cognitive differences between health science students at the University of Minnesota and the population of a Minnesota rural area, that differing values, attitudes, and beliefs between health science students and rural populations may contribute to the continuing shortage of rural health…

Linear development and systemic models of community attachment were tested using survey responses of 415 nonmetropolitan Utah residents. Community size did not have independent inverse effects on community attachment dimensions: involvement, amity, and sentiment. Community size and five social position variables produced interactive effects.…

After discussing theories of attitude change, recommends that mental health workers overcome the negative attitudes of rural communities toward mental health programs by forming positive, personal, affective bonds with rural community members. Presents strategies for establishing and maintaining these bonds in private life, clinical work, and…

Research indicates that living in company towns created a population lacking in initiative and self-determination. In one community that was a company town until the mid-1950s, key-informant interviews indicated high levels of dropping out, illiteracy, teen pregnancy, poverty, and dependency. However, a survey of high school students revealed no…

To examine ratings of satisfaction with selected community services in relation to spending preferences and to ascertain policy-relevant implications of citizen evaluations in planning and delivering rural services), a study focused on perceptions of community leaders and household respondents in eight rural Alabama counties. Research literature…

Three intermountain communities in Colorado and Utah were studied to determine the impact of rapid development on residents of rural communities, especially on their views of the world and their personal well-being, and to assess the degree to which energy boomtowns experience the social disruption suggested in the classical boomtown studies. Two…