Brief report #3: building a rural community caregiver network: student learning in small town America

The Rural Caregiver Network Project in Eastern Maine is a prime example of indigenous coalition-building in a region struggling to ensure that vulnerable older adults can age-in-place and manage with scarce resources. Through this innovative initiative, a range of elder caregiver interventions were mobilized, coordinated, and sustained in a rural two-county region in Maine, including navigator services, adult day care, information and referral, caregiver support groups, a caregiver resource center, and caregiver skills-building workshops. The endorsement of participatory research, evaluation, and programming principles enabled undergraduate and graduate social work students to assume major roles in all aspects of project planning, implementation, and assessment while remaining grounded in the realities of rural life. Competence in such a generalist gerontological social work practice perspective is critical in small towns and nonmetropolitan communities.