Synopses & Reviews
Seniors in rural areas are vastly under-researched compared to their urban counterparts. This innovative book offers a unique interdisciplinary perspective on this issue, focusing on seniors roles as assets in rural civic society. The authors examine the ways in which rural elders are connected to community and place, the contributions they make to family and neighbors, and the organizations and groups to which they belong. They explore topics such as financial security, leisure, access to services, mobility, civic engagement, and digital inclusion, offering a comprehensive look at the lives of older people that challenges problem-focused views of aging in rural areas.
Synopsis
Older people in the countryside are vastly under-researched compared to those in urban areas. This innovative volume, the first project-based book in the New Dynamics of Ageing series, offers a unique interdisciplinary perspective on this issue, focusing on older people's role as assets in rural civic society. It demonstrates how the use of diverse methods from across disciplines aims to increase public engagement with this research. The authors examine the ways in which rural elders are connected to community and place, the contributions they make to family and neighbours, and the organisations and groups to which they belong. Highly topical issues around later life explored through these perspectives include older people's financial security, leisure, access to services, transport and mobility, civic engagement and digital inclusion - all considered within the rural context in an era of fiscal austerity. In doing so, this book challenges problem-based views of ageing rural populations through considering barriers and facilitators to older people's inclusion and opportunities for community participation in rural settings. Countryside Connections is a valuable text for students, researchers and practitioners with interests in rural ageing, civic engagement and interdisciplinary methods, theory and practice.
Synopsis
The first project-based book in the New Dynamics of Ageing series offers a unique interdisciplinary perspective on older people's role as assets in rural civic society. The authors examine the ways in which rural elders are connected to community, the contributions they make and the groups to which they belong.
About the Author
Catherine Hagan Hennessy is professor of public health and aging at Plymouth University.
Robin Means is professor of health and social care at the University of the West of England. He is coauthor of
From Community Care to Market Care, also published by the Policy Press at the University of Bristol.
Vanessa Burholt is professor of gerontology at Swansea University.
Table of Contents
Countryside connections in later life: Setting the scene
~ Catherine Hagan Hennessy, Robin Means and Vanessa Burholt
Conceptualising rural connectivities in later life
~ Nigel Curry, Vanessa Burholt, Catherine Hagan Hennessy
Rural connectivity and older peoples leisure participation
~ Catherine Hagan Hennessy, Yvette Staelens, Gloria Lankshear, Andy Phippen, Avril Silk, Daniel Zahra
Connecting with community: The nature of belonging among rural elders
~ Vanessa Burholt, Nigel Curry, Norah Keating, Jacquie Eales
Beyond transport: Understanding the role of mobilities in rural elders connectivity in civic society
~ Graham Parkhurst, Kathleen Galvin, Charles Musselwhite, Judith Phillips, Ian Shergold, Les Todres
Deep mapping and rural connectivities
~ Jane Bailey, Iain Biggs and Dan Buzzo
Older people, low income and place: Making connections in rural Britain
~ Paul Milbourne, Shane Doheny
Connecting with older people as project stakeholders: Lessons for public participation and engagement in rural research
~ Simon Evans, Ray Jones, Janet Smithson
Towards connectivity in a Grey and Pleasant Land?
~ Robin Means, Vanessa Burholt, Catherine Hagan Hennessy