Rural Families Across the Life Span: Implications for Community Programming

摘要

This document contains eight papers that were prepared for a symposium on family programs in small towns and rural communities held at Purdue University in 1977. The opening presentation reviews the delivery of rural social services in terms of logistics, costs, community attitudes, and potential effect on the family. Changes in the rural family's demographic structure over the past 20 years are examined, followed by a discussion of alternatives available to social service agencies when attempting to meet the needs of young children and their families in rural locales. Subsequent papers address other major stages in family development; the role of the family in counseling rural teenagers, perceptions of middle - age and their relevance to programs for families in midlife, and the advantages and disadvantages of older people remaining in rural environments. An examination of community programs that supplement rather than supplant family strengths identifies six factors that professionals concerned with effective service delivery should consider. The final paper explores the beliefs that major governmental programs have a pervasive impact on individuals while practitioners have a limited impact and that practitioners' decisions are more influenced by value systems than research findings. The implications of these dilemmas for programs and service delivery in small or rural communities are discussed. References accompany most papers.