Rural ageing: A good place to grow old? (Ageing and the Lifecourse)

169 Pages·2008·1.39 MB·English

by  Norah Keating

Edited by
NORAH KEATING
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Rural Ageing
A good place to grow old?
RuRal ageing
A good place to grow old?
Edited by Norah Keating
For Ruth and Bill Keating
First published in Great Britain in 2008 by
The Policy Press
University of Bristol
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© Norah Keating 2008
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested.
ISBN 978 1 86134 901 9 paperback
ISBN 978 1 86134 902 6 hardcover
The right of Norah Keating to be identified as editor of this work has been asserted by her
in accordance with the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.
All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of The Policy Press.
The statements and opinions contained within this publication are solely those of the
editor and contributors and not of The University of Bristol, or The Policy Press. The
University of Bristol and The Policy Press disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons
or property resulting from any material published in this publication.
The Policy Press works to counter discrimination on grounds of gender, race, disability, age
and sexuality.
Cover design by In-Text Design, Bristol
Front cover: photograph kindly supplied by Getty Images
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Henry Ling Ltd, Dorchester
Contents
Foreword by Alexandre Kalache iv
Acknowledgements vi
Notes on contributors viii
one A critical human ecology perspective on rural ageing 1
Norah Keating and Judith Phillips
two Crossing borders: lifecourse, rural ageing and disability 11
Tamara Daly and Gordon Grant
three Rurality and ageing well: ‘a long time here’ 21
Sherry Ann Chapman and Sheila Peace
four The evolution of networks of rural older adults 33
G. Clare Wenger and Norah Keating
five Distance, privacy and independence: rural homecare 43
Joanie Sims-Gould and Anne Martin-Matthews
six Respite for rural and remote caregivers 53
Neena L. Chappell, Bonnie Schroeder and Michelle Gibbens
seven Ageing, disability and participation 63
Janet Fast and Jenny de Jong Gierveld
eight Participation in rural contexts: community matters 75
Julia Rozanova, Donna Dosman and Jenny de Jong Gierveld
nine Staying connected: issues of mobility of older rural adults 87
Bonnie Dobbs and Laurel Strain
ten Ageing and social exclusion in rural communities 97
Thomas Scharf and Bernadette Bartlam
eleven Age-friendly rural communities 109
Jacquie Eales, Janice Keefe and Norah Keating
twelve Revisiting rural ageing 121
Norah Keating
References 131
Index 151
iii
Rural ageing
Foreword
Population ageing is a major force shaping the 21st century. The number of
people aged 60 years and over as a proportion of the global population will
double from 11% in 2006 to 22% by 2050. By then, there will be more older
people than children for the first time in human history. While Europe, North
America and Oceania are the oldest regions of the world – and will remain so in
upcoming decades – developing countries are ageing faster within a context of
scarcer resources. Population ageing marks the culmination of successful human
development during the last century and presents major challenges for this century.
Living longer is the fruit of critical gains in public health and in standards of
living. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises the importance of
this demographic trend as expressed in its 1996 Brasilia Declaration on Ageing
that ‘healthy older people are a resource for their families, their communities and
the economy’.
While older adults may be an important resource, they do not always live in
settings in which they are able to flourish. And those in rural communities may
be doubly disadvantaged. Like others, they require supportive and enabling living
environments to compensate for physical and social changes associated with ageing.
While some may live in idyllic settings, buffered from the social problems of urban
areas, many face challenges of poor service infrastructure, isolation, poverty and
harsh climate. They need to be assisted and protected.
Rural communities benefit a country’s entire population. They produce
food and other basic necessities of daily living, provide natural resources that
underpin national industries and often help to preserve the environment. Yet
to be sustainable, rural communities must provide the structures and services to
support their residents’ well-being and productivity. Rural ageing provides an in-
depth critical analysis of ways to ensure that rural settings are places in which older
adults can flourish, as well as identifying barriers that can lead to exclusion.
In this book, authors speak to the connections of older adults to rural places
and how identities of older adults are created and re-created in interaction with
the landscapes that are integral to their lives. They also consider ageing in the
context of important people in the lives of adults as they reach very old age and
the challenges in providing services to older rural adults in widely dispersed
communities and in supporting caregivers. Furthermore, the authors address
questions of how communities foster social engagement and connections and
undertake critical analyses of community-level influences on inclusion and
support of older adults. They cast light on the varied, and often hidden, nature
of disadvantage experienced by older rural residents as well as how community
settings may create contexts that are ‘age-friendly’ and inclusive.
In recent years, WHO has been engaged in a global project to enhance
community capacity to act as a resource for older adults. Focused on cities, the
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Foreword
age-friendly approach encourages active ageing by optimising opportunities for
health, participation and security to enhance quality of life as people age and to tap
the potential that older people represent for their societies. Rural ageing provides
the groundwork for expanding the scope beyond cities, spreading it to the many
small and dispersed communities where so many older people worldwide live
their lives.
Population ageing is the demographic imperative of the 21st century. It will
impinge on all aspects of society, offering multiple opportunities but also immense
challenges. History will judge countries according to their capacity to respond
to those challenges with resolve and imagination. Those who succeed will reap
the benefits and will be at the forefront of the demographic revolution. For that,
good ideas, research and policies are all critical, which is what this book offers.
Above all, it also expresses in varied and complementary ways, what is ever so
important as individuals and communities age: the emphasis has to shift, from
disablement to enablement. I salute the authors for their vision and hope that
readers worldwide will feel as inspired as I have from reading this book.
Alexandre Kalache, Director, Ageing and Life Course Programme
World Health Organization
v
Rural ageing
acknowledgements
The process of moving a book from ideas to publication is complex and requires
a great deal of skill on the part of many people. Judith Phillips, the Ageing and the
Lifecourse series editor, provided ongoing encouragement, advice and mentorship
along the way. Her input invariably was insightful and supportive. We met in tea
shops and faculty offices and talked over long walks on both sides of the Atlantic.
She was the touchstone over the two years of the process.
Chapters in the book were written by scholars in Europe and North America
and reflect a number of research programmes and projects. Data for Chapters
Three, Five, Seven, Eight, Nine and Eleven were drawn in part from a programme
of research entitled ‘Caring Contexts of Rural Seniors’, funded by Veterans Affairs
Canada (VAC) 2002-06. Special thanks to David Pedlar, Head of the VAC Research
Directorate, for his unfailing support for our rural research. Chapter Three also
draws on research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
(UK) where the ‘Environment and Identity in Later Life’ study formed part of the
Growing Older Programme. Research for Chapter Nine had additional support
from Health Canada; writing of this chapter was supported by a New Emerging
Team grant, the Institute of Aging and the Rural and Northern Health Research
Initiative, Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
The research on which Chapter Four is based was funded by the UK Department
of Health through the Welsh Office and the ESRC 1978-99. Chapter Five was
supported in part through postdoctoral funding to the first author from a Canadian
Institutes of Health Research grant to the Nexus Home Care Project. Data for
Chapter Six were drawn from the Care Renewal Project funded by The J.W.
McConnell Family Foundation (Canada). Chapters Seven and Eight were drawn
from two projects in a programme of research entitled ‘Hidden Costs, Invisible
Contributions: The Marginalization of “Dependent” Adults’, funded by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (Canada) under its Major
Collaborative Research Initiative 2001-07.
Quantitative analyses for Chapter Eight were conducted at the Research
Data Centre (RDC) at the University of Alberta, Canada. The RDC is funded
by SSHRC, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Foundation
for Innovation and Statistics Canada. RDC provides access for researchers to
analytic datasets from Statistics Canada national surveys. The Commission for
Rural Communities (an operating division of the Countryside Agency) (UK)
supported the empirical study on which Chapter Ten is based.
We are grateful to these funders for their assistance in developing the information
for our critical examination of rural ageing. We also wish to thank the SSHRC
for funding that supported workshops to develop the outline and approach to
the book. My thanks to the authors for their perseverance in writing, revising
and polishing their chapters. Their work forms the heart of the book.
vi
Acknowledgements
The staff at The Policy Press provided practical and timely advice and input on
editing and production. They assisted with the intricacies of book cover designs,
pre-publication brochures, author biographies and style manuals. Special thanks
to Emily Watt, Associate Commissioning Editor, who worked with me on details
of the contract and reminded me of timelines; Jacqueline Lawless, Marketing
Manager, who helped with the information for the book jacket and promotional
flyers; Dave Worth, Production Manager, for discussions on the design of the book
cover; and Alison Shaw, Director. I have been in good hands throughout.
A wonderful group of people at the University of Alberta were the keepers
and archivists of the knowledge created for the book. Kara Leigh Jameson set up
a superb web-based filing system; Agnes Pieracci edited chapters; Julia Rozanova
conducted background literature searches; and Jacquie Eales managed the process
of tracking and organising the many iterations of chapters.
Finally, to my husband Norm Looney, for his support and encouragement and
for sharing with me the beautiful rural setting of Summerland, British Columbia
where the final phases of the book were completed.
I am grateful to all of you.
Norah Keating
vii
Rural ageing
notes on contributors
Bernadette Bartlam is Lecturer in Social Gerontology and Course Director of
the MSc in Geriatric Medicine at Keele University, UK. Her research interests
centre on ageing from a lifecourse perspective, and specifically on poverty and
social exclusion of older people, new models of housing and social care, and
health and wellbeing in later life.
Sherry Ann Chapman is a research associate with the Community–University
Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families at the University of
Alberta, Canada. With a PhD in Human Ecology and a Master’s degree in Museum
Studies, she has a well-developed understanding of the research world and also
a practice background. Her research interests include: ageing-well theorising;
material culture as applied to gerontology; ageing in rural Canada; qualitative
research; and community-based research mentorship.
Neena Chappell is a Canada Research Chair in Social Gerontology and Professor
at the Centre on Aging and the Department of Sociology at the University of
Victoria, Canada. She is a Professor of the Royal Society of Canada, advising
professor at East China Normal University in Shanghai, and distinguished visiting
scholar at the University of Hong Kong. For 30 years she has been researching
caregiving to and among older adults including filial piety among Chinese
families, healthcare including care for those living with dementia, and healthcare
policy for an ageing society. Her ninth book, Health and Health Care in Canada:
A Sociological View, Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, is due out in
September 2008.
Tamara Daly is an assistant professor with the School of Health Policy and
Management at York University, Canada. Her research interests focus on gender
and health, healthcare work, the comparative political economy of health, gender
and critical disability, and the role of healthcare non-profits. Her current funded
research projects investigate changes to the organisation and delivery of women’s
health services in Toronto, health restructuring in the long-term care sector, and
the support needs and resources available to women living with HIV.
Bonnie Dobbs is Director of Research, Division of Care of the Elderly, and
Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of
Alberta, Canada. Her primary research interests include the effects of medical
conditions on driving competence, the development of procedures for the
identification of medically at-risk drivers, the consequences of driving cessation
viii
Notes on contributors
for medically impaired older drivers and their families, the role of support groups
for individuals who have had to stop driving, and for their caregivers, to reduce
the emotional and mobility consequences for those drivers and their families,
and the role of transportation in maintaining the mobility and independence of
older drivers in both rural and urban settings.
Donna Dosman is an adjunct professor with the Department of Human Ecology
at the University of Alberta, and a regional manager with the Research Data
Centre Program, Statistics Canada. Her research interests include the costs of
providing care to older adults who are frail and persons with disabilities, family
and friend care networks, and the contributions that older adults and persons
with disabilities make to their community.
Jacquie Eales is a research manager with the Research on Aging, Policies, and
Practice Research team in the Department of Human Ecology at the University
of Alberta, Canada. Having grown up in a rural farming community in northern
British Columbia, she is particularly interested in the interface between older
adults and the rural communities in which they reside and the process of creating
a best person–environment fit.
Janet Fast is a professor in the Department of Human Ecology at the University
of Alberta, Canada. As a family economist, her research interests focus on the
consequences of recent health and social policy reform for family and friends
who care for frail older people and other adults with chronic illness and disability.
Of particular interest are the economic consequences of having to accommodate
employment to care demands. She is also exploring the social participation of
older adults and adults with chronic illness and disability as it contributes to their
own well-being and to broader society.
Michelle Gibbens is a research associate with the Winnipeg Regional Health
Authority Research and Evaluation Unit in Winnipeg MB Canada. She has
explored the meaning and experience of respite for unpaid caregivers through her
work with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and VON Canada on the Care
Renewal: Reaching Out to Caregivers initiative. Her research interests include
unpaid caregiver support, knowledge translation, and evaluation research.
Jenny de Jong Gierveld is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Social
Sciences, VU University in Amsterdam and Honorary Fellow of the Netherlands
Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute in The Hague. Her research has addressed
issues around social participation in partner relationships, living arrangements and
social networks. A particular focus has been on loneliness and the construction
of a loneliness scale.
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