Aging in Rural Places: Programs, Policies, and Professional Practice
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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
Agricultural Medicine: Rural Occupational and Environmental Health, Safety, and Prevention
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Newly updated, Agricultural Medicine: Rural Occupational Health, Safety, and Prevention, Second Editionis a groundbreaking and comprehensive textbook and reference for students and practitioners of public health, and professionals in the field of rural agricultural occupational health and safety. The book introduces specific occupational and environmental health and safety issues faced by agricultural workers and rural residents, and provides a roadmap to establishing sustainable worker and public health support in agricultural communities. Responding to reader demand, Agricultural Medicine, Second Edition now features more case studies, key point summaries, and new international perspective chapters comparing North American health and agricultural practices to those in Europe, the Asia Pacific, and South America. Agricultural health and safety engages a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, veterinarians, safety professionals, engineers, sociologists, epidemiologists, and psychologists, for whom this book serves as an essential resource.
AIDS and Rural Livelihoods: Dynamics and Diversity in sub-Saharan Africa
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AIDS epidemics continue to threaten the livelihoods of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Three decades after the disease was first recognized, the annual death toll from AIDS exceeds that from wars, famine and floods combined. Yet despite millions of dollars of aid and research, there has previously been little detailed on-the-ground analysis of the multifaceted impacts on rural people.Filling that gap, this book brings together recent evidence of AIDS impacts on rural households, livelihoods, and agricultural practice in sub-Saharan Africa. There is particular emphasis on the role of women in affected households, and on the situation of children. The book is unique in presenting micro-level information collected by original empirical research in a range of African countries, and showing how well-grounded conclusions on trends, impacts and local responses can be applied to the design of HIV-responsive policies and programmes. AIDS impacts are more diverse than we previously thought, and local responses more varied - sometimes innovative, sometimes desperate. The book represents a major contribution to our understanding of the impacts of AIDS in the epidemic's heartland, and how these can be managed at different levels.
Application of the Political Economy to Rural Health Disparities
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This thought-provoking monograph analyzes the longstanding political and economic structures underlying entrenched health inequities in rural areas worldwide. Bypassing familiar data on the subject, it critiques existing approaches to why core social determinants of health are underrepresented in rural communities, and synthesizes knowledge from health behaviors to spatial politics to make creative, equitable suggestions for intervention. The author reviews classic economic and current sociopolitical theory to pinpoint governments' decision-making processes behind resource allocation as they translate into poor service access, service quality, and health outcomes. In reply, corrective policy measures are recommended to address these conditions at the root-cause level, in keeping with global goals of improved health for all. Included in the coverage: · Rural health disparities: the political economy. · Rural health disparities: the economic argument. · Social disorganization in rural communities. · Rural health disparities and social disorder: public policy responses. · The political economy: an era of institutional cynicism? With its forceful argument for dealing with a growing but often invisible crisis, Application of the Political Economy to Rural Health Disparities makes a significant text for graduate and undergraduate programs in public and international affairs, planning and public policy, public health, public administration, and economics. Public health and advocacy organizations will also benefit from the book's vision.
For the Public Good: Women, Health, and Equity in Rural India
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Village-based health workers actively challenging the dominant double prejudices of caste and gender inequality in India
Foundations of Rural Public Health in America
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Foundations of Rural Public Health in America spans a wide variety of important issues affecting rural public health, including consumer and family health, environmental and occupational health, mental health, substance abuse, disease prevention and control, rural health care delivery systems, and health disparities. Divided into five sections, the book covers understanding rural communities, public health systems and policies for rural communities, health disparities in rural communities and among special populations, and advancing rural health including assessment, planning and intervention. Written by a multidisciplinary team of experienced scholars and practitioners, this authoritative text comprehensively covers rural health issues today. Key Features- Several topics covered meet the required competencies for an MPH curriculum (e.g. community needs assessment, partnership or coalition development, social justice, etc.).- Comprehensive coverage includes current issues in mental health, LGBTQ populations, COVID-19, commercial agribusiness, adolescent health, rural hospitals, and more.- Hands-on classroom activities for students and discussion questions provides opportunities for active learning.- Instructor's manual, test banks and additional discussion questions along with PowerPoint slides provide helpful resources for course planning and preparation. - Each new print copy includes Navigate eBook Access enabling you to read your digital textbook online or offline from your computer, tablet, or mobile device.
Healthcare Leadership and Rural Communities: Challenges, Strategies, and Solutions
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Leaders of rural healthcare organizations confront unique challenges. Payment systems, power dynamics, labor availability, and accessible resources differ considerably between rural and urban areas. Healthcare Leadership and Rural Communities outlines what it takes to manage care in a rural community and provides advice on overcoming the common challenges that healthcare executives confront. The authors provide candid insights gained from their experience as rural healthcare managers and their work with leaders in the field. Covered topics include the following: Measuring and managing rural care qualityDeveloping strong relationships with physiciansFinancing and funding rural healthcareMeeting demand for mental and behavioral health services Case studies provide an excellent starting point for discussions with healthcare teams, boards, providers, and local leaders on how to solve real-life difficulties and enhance cooperation. All healthcare organizations are linked to their communities, but rural providers have particularly strong ties. This book emphasizes the need for collaboration to safeguard the futures of organizations and their communities.
HIV/AIDS in Rural Communities : Research, Education, and Advocacy
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This wide-ranging volume reviews the experience and treatment of HIV/AIDS in rural America at the clinical, care system, community, and individual levels. Rural HIV-related phenomena are explored within healthcare contexts (physician shortages, treatment disparities) and the social environment (stigma, the opioid epidemic), and contrasted with urban frames of reference. Contributors present latest findings on HIV medications, best practices, and innovative opportunities for improving care and care settings, plus invaluable first-person perspective on the intersectionality of patient subpopulations. These chapters offer both seasoned and training practitioners a thorough grounding in the unique challenges of providing appropriate and effective services in the region. Featured topics include: Case study: Georgia's rural vs. non-rural populations HIV medications: how they work and why they fail Pediatric/adolescent HIV: legal and ethical issues Our experience: HIV-positive African-American women in the Deep South Learning to age successfully with HIV Bringing important detail to an often-marginalized population, HIV/AIDS in Rural Communities will interest and inspire healthcare practitioners including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, case managers, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and family therapists, as well as educators, students, persons living with HIV, advocates, community leaders, and policymakers.
Indigenous Public Health: Improvement through Community-Engaged Interventions
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Income, education, job security, food and housing, and gender and race are all examples of the social determinants of health. These factors influence the health and well-being of patients, as well as how they interact with health care providers and receive health care, and unfortunately, certain biases can become a barrier to maintaining good health in some communities. Indigenous groups in North America and US-associated Pacific jurisdictions have been subjected to occupation and forced relocation, mandated boarding schools, and other attempts by state and federal governments to eliminate their cultural strengths and resources. Indigenous Public Health illustrates how successful community engagement strategies, programs, and resources within Indigenous communities have resulted in diverse, successful public health programs, and helped community members overcome barriers to health. Editors Linda Burhansstipanov and Kathryn L. Braun explore the problems that impact engagement efforts, discuss public health topics, acknowledge and honor the strengths of different communities, and emphasize that collaboration and the sharing of resources can only improve lives.
The Lies of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is -- and Isn’t
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It seems everyone has an opinion about rural America. Is it gripped in a tragic decline? Or is it on the cusp of a glorious revival? Is it the key to understanding America today? Steven Conn argues that we're missing the real question: Is rural America even a thing? No, says Conn, who believes we see only what we want to see in the lands beyond the suburbs--fantasies about moral (or backward) communities, simpler (or repressive) living, and what it means to be authentically (or wrongheadedly) American. If we want to build a better future, Conn argues, we must accept that these visions don't exist and never did. In The Lies of the Land, Conn shows that rural America--so often characterized as in crisis or in danger of being left behind--has actually been at the center of modern American history, shaped by the same forces as everywhere else in the country: militarization, industrialization, corporatization, and suburbanization. Examining each of these forces in turn, Conn invites us to dispense with the lies and half-truths we've believed about rural America and to pursue better solutions to the very real challenges shared all across our nation.
Mental Health and Wellbeing in Rural Regions: International Perspectives
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This book considers how rurality interacts with the mental health and wellbeing of individuals and communities in different regional settings. Through the use of international and comparative case studies, the book offers insight into the spatiality of mental health diagnoses, experiences, services provision and services access between and within rural areas. It is the first book to specifically address rural mental health geographies from an international perspective, and will be of interest to researchers and policymakers in rural studies, regional studies, health geography and rural mental health.
Mobile Technologies for Delivering Healthcare in Remote, Rural or Developing Regions
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This edited book explores the use of mobile technologies such as phones, drones, robots, apps, and wearable monitoring devices for improving access to healthcare for socially disadvantaged populations in remote, rural or developing regions. This book brings together examples of large scale, international projects from developing regions of China and Belt and Road countries from researchers in Australia, Bangladesh, Denmark, Norway, Japan, Spain, Thailand and China. The chapters discuss the challenges presented to those seeking to deploy emerging mobile technologies (e.g., smartphones, IoT, drones, robots etc.) for healthcare (mHealth) in developing countries and discuss the solutions undertaken in these case study projects. This book brings together joint work in mHealth projects across multiple disciplines (software, healthcare, mobile communications, entrepreneurship and business and social development). Bringing together research from different institutions and disciplines, the editors illustrate the technical and entrepreneurial aspects of using mobile technologies for healthcare development in remote regions. Chapters are grouped into five key themes: the global challenge, portable health clinics, sustainable and resilient mHealth services, mHealth for the elderly, and mHealth for chronic illnesses. The book will be of particular interest to engineers, entrepreneurs, NGOs and researchers working in healthcare in sustainable development settings. lines, the editors illustrate the technical and entrepreneurial aspects of using mobile technologies for healthcare development in remote regions. Chapters are grouped into five key themes: the global challenge, portable health clinics, sustainable and resilient mHealth services, mHealth for the elderly, and mHealth for chronic illnesses. The book will be of particular interest to engineers, entrepreneurs, NGOs and researchers working in healthcare in sustainable development settings. lines, the editors illustrate the technical and entrepreneurial aspects of using mobile technologies for healthcare development in remote regions. Chapters are grouped into five key themes: the global challenge, portable health clinics, sustainable and resilient mHealth services, mHealth for the elderly, and mHealth for chronic illnesses. The book will be of particular interest to engineers, entrepreneurs, NGOs and researchers working in healthcare in sustainable development settings. lines, the editors illustrate the technical and entrepreneurial aspects of using mobile technologies for healthcare development in remote regions. Chapters are grouped into five key themes: the global challenge, portable health clinics, sustainable and resilient mHealth services, mHealth for the elderly, and mHealth for chronic illnesses. The book will be of particular interest to engineers, entrepreneurs, NGOs and researchers working in healthcare in sustainable development settings. nt settings.
Public Health Nutrition Rural, Urban, and Global Community-Based Practice
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Public Health Nutrition is a comprehensive, practice-based textbook for graduate and upper undergraduate students and community nutrition and public health professionals. It provides readers with the principal understanding of how improving access to healthy foods at individual, local, regional and global levels as well as improving food security and sustainability can improve community health and combat noncommunicable diseases, infectious diseases, hunger and malnutrition, obesity, social injustice, and debilitating food environments. Across diverse communities, this book not only directs readers' attention towards key public health nutrition-related challenges that affect rural and urban populations across the globe, it also adds critical thinking exercises, cases, and engaging discussion topics to advance application of evidence-based practice in the real world. Using an interprofessional approach and supported with evidence-based research in public health, nutritional science, and behavioral economics, this textbook covers how to plan health promotion programs and interventions in diverse communities, how to analyze and influence food policy, sustainability, and security initiatives, and how to address cultural competency, nutritional monitoring, professional development, and many other practice-based skills out in the field.. All chapters are complete with learning objectives, detailed case studies, discussion questions, learning activities for beyond the classroom, and a review of core topics covered. Essential for public health students studying nutrition, public policy, social work, and other health science-related areas, the book presents a strategic context to real-world initiatives while employing an interprofessional outlook to tackle public health nutrition issues.Key FeaturesAddresses key public health nutrition-related challenges in working with rural, urban, global, and culturally and geographically diverse communities to improve outcomesUtilizes interprofessional and evidence-based approaches to food and water systems, food security, and food sovereigntyIncludes coverage of important trends, such as telehealth, mHealth, collaborative grantsmanship, and innovative communication strategiesHighlights the aims of Healthy People 2030, Feed the Future, and Sustainability Development GoalsFosters skills and builds competencies related to community health needs assessment, problem-solving and critical thinking, systems thinking, evidence-based public health practice, and leadershipFeatures case studies, suggested learning activities, reflection questions, an extensive glossary, and more in all chaptersIncludes a full range of instructor ancillaries including an Instructor's Manual, PowerPoints, Test Bank, Image Bank, and SyllabusPurchase includes access to the ebook for use on most mobile devices or computers
Remote and Rural Dementia Care: Policy, Research and Practice
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As the number of people affected by dementia continues to rise, this is the first in-depth examination of related services dedicated to the unique demands of remote and rural settings. Contributors from the UK, Australia, North America and Europe explore the experiences and requirements of those living with dementia and those caring for them in personal and professional capacities in challenging geographical locations. For practitioners, researchers, academics and policy makers, this book is an essential review of evidence and strategies to date, and a guide to future research needs and opportunities for improvements in rural dementia practice.
Rural Healthcare
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Key Features: The only textbook of rural healthcare practice for the UK Reflects the increasing profile of rural healthcare as a dedicated sub-specialty with its own growing body of literature and dedicated university courses Addresses the key challenges of ensuring effective and sustainable healthcare for those in rural, remote and coastal communities, often exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic Includes key themes - geographical equity, the trade-offs between access to services and quality of care, hidden rural social exclusion, the role of generalists and the importance of focusing on patient experience Focuses on the UK experience, but with applicability for those facing similar healthcare challenges internationally
Rural Landscapes of Community Health
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The book describes a novel method of engaging rural communities in partnership initially with nurse learners to research and employ the Community Health Assessment Sustainability Education (CHASE) model. CHASE provides a consolidated structure that immerses nurse learners in community development in partnership with their group peers, community organisations and educational supervisors. The book engages with community development practitioners, community activists including rural health practitioners who provide services to rural populations, undergraduate health disciplines, postgraduate learners, educators, and researchers. The CHASE system is described in detail and offers case studies on its application in a variety of geographical contexts. CHASE is a starting point that does not set out to impose a single understanding - it is adapted in practice to rural communities' requirements. Therefore, capturing how this model has been adapted within diverse international rural communities to accommodate community needs is paramount and aligned with each individual case study presented in the book. CHASE enhances collaborative relationships in the global landscape informing nursing curricula, and teaching and learning pedagogy internationally with a view to reduce health disparities. This book is a valuable resource of pioneering work that spans disciplines and promotes collaboration among stakeholders invested in rural community health. By weaving together connections between disciplines and communities, the authors highlight the importance of spatial thinking and its impact on health and well-being. Readers are given a comprehensive exploration of the challenges of indigenous, minority, and vulnerable rural populations presented as insightful narrative, case studies. - Kate Emond, Rural Department of Nursing and Midwifery, La Trobe University, Australia The Editors have skillfully incorporated on interdisciplinary focus on the CHASE Model. The authors facilitate and evaluate favorable social change, enhance healthcare delivery systems and improve social determinants of health via interdisciplinary actions within community development. - Angeline Bushy, University of Central Florida College of Nursing, USA
Strategizing to Improve Operational Efficiency and Healthcare Quality Improvement at a Rural Health Network
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From Sage Business cases. Kingstree Health Network, a fictional rural healthcare organization, has recently implemented a network-wide project focused on developing a systematic process for discovering opportunities for improvement (OFI) and creating process improvement teams (PITs) to implement those solutions. Improving efficiency at Kingstree will require the establishment of process improvement strategies through forecasting and benchmarking, using evidence-based practices and applicable competitor analyses. Understanding industry standards, anticipating perceived growth, and other such challenging matters as employee and client satisfaction and instituting governmental change, all play a vital role in improving care delivery. This case invites students to methodically apply resource management techniques to achieve process improvements for overall operational efficiency when a health network discovers its Quality Improvement Department is unproductive and unengaged. Some of the general challenges surrounding the Quality Improvement Department include a culture with a lack of engagement by physicians and clinicians; belief that there are no problems to be addressed in most departments; resistance to change; limited use of big data; lack of ownership of issues; and defensiveness to others’ judgments and opinions. In the healthcare industry this is counterintuitive to improving quality.