Rural Caregiving in the United States : Research, Practice, Policy

Caregivers living in rural areas face daunting obstacles. In addition to the isolation and anxiety that many caregivers across the country experience, rural caregivers must also cope with limited access to uncoordinated resources and severe shortages of trained professionals. Although many research, policy, and practice upgrades have been made in response to caregivers’ general concerns, the specific problems facing the rural caregiver have been less frequently addressed.

Focusing on what is known as well as what is needed – and zeroing in on major subgroups within this diverse population – Rural Caregiving in the United States replaces misconceptions of the nonurban experience with real-life issues, findings, and solutions. For example, this pioneering volume:

• Covers a broad range of issues unique to rural caregiving, including research, education/training, policy, and practice.
• Identifies specific needs related to education, training, and support for rural caregivers.
• Examines both the positive and negative effects of rural living on caregivers as well as patients.
• Discusses the importance of in-home care in lieu of scarcer forms of for-profit care (e.g., hospitals).
• Addresses not only discrepancies between rural and urban health care systems but racial and ethnic disparities within rural health care.
• Explores the advantages of using information technology to address rural health care limitations.  

Rural Caregiving in the United States offers uniquely knowledgeable perspectives to researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in the caregiving fields, including psychology, social work, nursing, gerontology and geriatrics, medicine, public health, public policy, and educational policy.

Ronda C. Talley, Ph.D., MPH, is Executive Director of the Suzanne Vitale Clinical Education Complex at Western Kentucky University and Professor of Psychology. Her prior work experience includes serving as Executive Director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving; Associate Director of Legislation, Policy, and Planning/Health Scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Associate Executive Director at the American Psychological Association. Dr. Talley received the Outstanding Alumni Award from Indiana University and the Jack Bardon Distinguished Service Award from the Division of School Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

Kathleen Chwalisz, Ph.D., is a Counseling Psychologist with a specialization in health psychology. She is chair of the Section for the Promotion of Psychotherapy Science and former chair of the Counseling Health Psychology section of Division 17 of the American Psychological Association. Her research interests include health psychology, rehabilitation psychology, neuropsychology, training of psychologists, program development and evaluation, qualitative research methodology, and structural equations modeling. Her research articles have appeared in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Rehabilitation Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Journal of Psychology in Medical Settings, and she has numerous chapters in professional books in health psychology and rehabilitation psychology. She is currently on the editorial board of Rehabilitation Psychology, and she previously served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Counseling Psychology and Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development. She is currently principal investigator for the SIU Rural Caregiver Telehealth Intervention Trial, a community-based clinical intervention trial sponsored by the National Institute of Aging and the National Institute of Nursing Research. Teaching and clinical interests are in supervision, conceptualization and treatment planning, psychological assessment, and evidence-based practice/empirically supported treatment. Dr. Chwalisz was recently named a Fellow of Division 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology) of the American Psychological Association.

Kathleen C. Buckwalter, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Director of the John A. Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence, Associate Director of the Gerontological Nursing Interventions Research Center, Co-Director of the University's Center on Aging, and holds joint appointments in the University of Iowa College of Medicine Departments of Psychiatry and Internal Medicine.

A prolific researcher of issues affecting the elderly, Dr. Buckwalter's work has focused on improving mental health services and providing community-based care for chronically ill older persons. Her specific clinical and research interests are in the area of geriatric mental health. Dr. Buckwalter's research has been funded by several branches of the NIH, including the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Nursing Research, and the National Institute of Mental Health, as well as numerous private foundations. She has written extensively in the field of gerontology, authoring more than 250 articles and 80 chapters, and has edited eight books.

In 1999, Dr. Buckwalter received the Distinguished Contribution to Research Award from the Midwest Nursing Research Society and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. In 2001, she was the recipient of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Excellence in Research Award, and the first recipient of the National Gerontological Nursing Association Board of Directors Award. Currently Dr. Buckwalter serves on numerous review committees, editorial boards, and advisory groups including: the American Psychiatric Nursing Association's Geropsychiatric/Long Term Care Council; the American Academy of Nursing Expert Panel on Aging, Long Term Care Policy Committee, the National Advisory Board for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Hartford Gerontology Project; the American Nurses Foundation Board of Trustees; the Long-Term Care Task Force and Polisher Awards Committee of the Gerontological Society of America; and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Committee on Aging.