Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Aging In Rural Communities: Older Persons’ Narratives Of Relocating In Place To Maintain Rural Identity, Joyce Weil

Online Journal of Rural Research & Policy

Literature often looks at older persons’ rural-to-urban moves, but relocation within the same region is less explored. The purpose of this study is to understand the perspectives of older persons who move to age in town in the same rural setting. Using data from 16 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with older persons in a rural community and directed content analysis, this study examines these older persons’ assessments of their current living situation, still seen as living rurally but now in a more populous location. Although moving within a rural environment, for different reasons, they do not report feelings of being “stuck …