A thoughtful text integrating strengths, assets, and capacity-building themes with contemporary issues in rural social work practice

Now in its second edition, Rural Social Work is a collection of contributed readings from social work scholars, students, and practitioners presenting a framework for resource building based on the strengths, assets, and capacities of people, a tool essential for working with rural communities.

This guide considers methods for social workers to participate in the work of sustaining rural communities. Each chapter features a reading integrating the themes of capacity-building and rural social work; discussion questions that facilitate critical thinking around the chapter; and suggested activities and assignments.

Rural Social Work, Second Edition explores:

• Important practice issues in rural communities, including the challenges of working with stigmatized populations such as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, the homeless, and people living with HIV/AIDS
• Practice models that hold special promise for rural social workers, including evidence-based practice and community partnership models
• Newer research tools such as asset mapping, social network analysis, concept mapping, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Exploring how social workers can integrate the tremendous resources that exist in rural communities into their practice, Rural Social Work, Second Edition provides a solid introduction to the complex, challenging, and rewarding work of building and sustaining rural communities.

T. LAINE SCALES, PhD, is Professor of Higher Education and Associate Dean of the Graduate School at Baylor University, Waco, Texas. She taught social work for 17 years and has published in the areas of social welfare history, rural social work, religion in social work, and teaching with decision cases.

CALVIN L. STREETER, PhD, is the Meadows Foundation Centennial Professor in the Quality of Life in the Rural Environment and former chair of the Community and Administrative Leadership Concentration in Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin.

H. STEPHEN COOPER, PhD, is Associate Professor of Social Work and Associate Dean, College of Liberal and Applied Arts at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Part I Conceptual and Historical Foundations of Rural Social Welfare (Paul H. Stuart)

Chapter 1- Down Home Social Work:  A Strengths Based Model for Professional Practice (Michael R. Daley & Freddie L. Avant)

Chapter 2- Rural is Real:  History of the National Rural Social Work Caucus and the NASW Professional Policy Statement on Rural Social Work (Samuel A. Hickman)

Chapter 3- Social Welfare and Rural People: From the Colonial Era to the Present (Paul H. Stuart)

Chapter 4- Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Rural Social Work and African American Women at Efland Home for Girls, 1920-1938 (Tanya Smith Brice)

Part II Human Behavior and Rural Environments (Freddie L. Avant)

Chapter5- Accomplishing the Four Essential Tasks for Higher Education Access:

The Role of Natural Helping Networks in Rural Virginia (Nathan F. Alleman & L. Neal Holly)

Chapter 6- African Americans Living in Rural Community: Building Assets from an Afrocentric Perspective (Freddie L. Avant)

Chapter 7- Latino Populations in Rural America:  Using Strengths to Build Capacity (Griselda Villalobos)

Chapter 8- Building Community among Rural Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Persons: Connecting Community through Families of Choice (Amy C. Russell)

Chapter 9 - Rural Children and Adolescents: Building Capacities within Public Schools (Linda Openshaw)

Part III Practice Issues in Rural Contexts (Susan A. Murty)

Chapter 10- Evidence-Based Practice in the Rural Context (Danielle E. Parrish & Kathi R. Trawver)

Chapter 11- Wraparound in Rural Child and Youth Mental Health: Coalescing Family-Community Capacities (Tamara S. Davis)

Chapter 12- Help-Seeking Pathways to Care: Culturally Competent Practice with Rural Hispanics with High Migratory Traditions to the U.S. (Dennis L. Poole & Alex Espadas)

Chapter 13- Social Workers and Rural Congregations: Partnering to Build Community Capacity (T. Laine Scales & Jon Singletary)

Chapter 14- Working Together to Improve Services for People Living with HIV/AIDS: An Example Service Delivery Network Development from Rural Northeast Texas (H. Stephen Cooper, Freddie L. Avant, & Wilma Cordova)

Chapter 15- Building Capacity to Overcome Challenges in the Delivery of Hospice and Palliative Care in Rural Communities (Amy Z. Boelk & Jessica H. Retrum)

Part IV Policy Issues Affecting Rural Populations (F. Ellen Netting)

Chapter 16- Capacity for Conservation: Rural Communities Address Sustainability for Global Impact (Kathleen Belanger)

Chapter 17- Living in Limbo: Homeless Families in Rural America (Jim Winship)

Chapter 18- Location matters: Using GIS mapping to address policy issues in rural areas (Donna M. Aguiniga & Amanda Davis)

Part V USING RESEARCH TO EVALUATE PRACTICE IN RURAL SETTINGS (Dennis L. Poole)

Chapter 19- Using an Assessment Framework for Research in a Rural Context (Susan A. Murty)

Chapter 20- Using Concept Mapping for Assessment and Planning in Rural Communities: Identifying Capacities through Participation (Tamara S. Davis & H. Stephen Cooper)

Chapter 21- Rural Networks: Using Social Network Analysis to Understand Communities (Calvin L. Streeter & H. Stephen Cooper)

Appendix A NASW Rural Policy Statement

Appendix B Online Trainings and Resources on the EBP Process and Practice Issues for Rural Settings