MUTUAL HELP ORGANIZATIONS FOR RURAL OLDER WOMEN

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Abstract
The effects of older age, women's roles, and some aspects of rural life, singly or in combination, can jeopardize rural older women's well‐being. The disproportionate risks to well‐being experienced by rural older women are the motivation for and the focus of the development of a mutual help model. A mutual help organization cannot be a solution to all problems, but it can be conceived of as one element within the care continuum of rural older women. The purposes of this paper are: (1) to describe some of the problems and needs of rural older women, (2) to propose mutual help organizations as one way of meeting their needs, (3) to suggest factors and techniques for the development and evaluation of a mutual help model for rural older women, and (4) to identify the educational implications of this approach for working with the rural elderly.