Rachel Winterton

Does place matter? Reviewing the experience of disadvantage for older people in rural Australia

Abstract Rural communities represent a large proportion of Australia’s most disadvantaged areas, with a growing percentage of older people concentrated in these locations. Older people residing in these communities are subject to both the disadvantages of rural living, as well as the health and mobility issues associated with ageing. This paper reviews the literature relating to rural disadvantage, and find that the issues are far more complex than previously thought. As well as disadvantages, there are also benefits to rural living, which can alleviate disadvantage for many older people. However, these same socio-cultural and structural factors are inter-related, and can also mask or increase rural disadvantage in certain circumstances or for particular groups. These factors are dynamic, interactive, and often invisible, and can impact on quality of life. Findings suggest a need for research into the relationship between disadvantage, the experience of rural living and the concept of healthy ageing.

Critical Reflections on a Social Inclusion Approach for an Ageing Australia

Abstract While social exclusion has been identified as a major issue facing older Australians, it has not yet been identified as a priority area for Australian social policy on ageing. This paper critically examines the concept of social exclusion and the issues and challenges in applying a social inclusion approach to social work practice for Australias ageing population. By critically examining the circumstances underpinning practices of social exclusion and highlighting the complexity of applying a social inclusion approach to ageing issues, this paper outlines the emerging issues and challenges for social workers in adopting a social inclusion approach to ageing issues in the Australian context. The analysis identifies a number of key issues that need to be addressed by service providers committed to redressing social exclusion in later life, including: economic deprivation, cumulative disadvantages, social participation and civic engagement, and cultural recognition.

Building Social Inclusion for Rural Older People Using Information and Communication Technologies: Perspectives of Rural Practitioners

Abstract The literature identifies rural, older people as at risk of social exclusion, as a result of rural disadvantage. In this context, improved access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) has potential to build social inclusion, yet current evidence shows that rural, older people are the lowest current users of technology. This paper draws on the practice and local knowledge of rural practitioners from one Victorian region in order to explore: (a) the practice issues associated with ICT use among rural, older people; and (b) the characteristics of effective practice models in the rural, social work context. An analysis of findings highlights the need to respond to the diverse skills, needs, and learning styles of older people, to demonstrate the benefits of ICTs, involve users, and build confidence. Major barriers include poor ICT usage by many rural agencies and low practitioner capacity, as well as access and resources.

Making rural and remote communities more age-friendly: experts' perspectives on issues, challenges, and priorities.

With the growing interest worldwide in making communities more age-friendly, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the factors that help or hinder communities in attaining this goal. In this article, we focus on rural and remote communities and present perspectives of 42 experts in the areas of aging, rural and remote issues, and policy who participated in a consensus conference on age-friendly rural and remote communities. Discussions highlighted that strengths in rural and remote communities, such as easy access to local leaders and existing partnerships, can help to further age-friendly goals; however, addressing major challenges, such as lack of infrastructure and limited availability of social and health services, requires regional or national government buy-in and funding opportunities. Age-friendly work in rural and remote communities is, therefore, ideally embedded in larger age-friendly initiatives and supported by regional or national policies, programs, and funding sources.

Considering the implications of place-based approaches for improving rural community wellbeing: The value of a relational lens

Abstract This article considers how spatial, place-based approaches to improving rural community wellbeing may be enriched through employing a relational view of space. Wellbeing is a focal point within place-based policy aimed at improving health-related disadvantage, with the expectation that this will have positive effects at the community level. However, the effective implementation of rural place-based policy is challenging, partly due to current homogenous conceptualisations of rural space in policy. This is in contrast to contemporary rural theory that asserts that rural space is relational, and is socially created through connections and flows that produce and reproduce wellbeing. This article synthesises critiques of rural place-based policy within the literature as a means of considering the value of a relational approach to rural space in conceiving and measuring place-based policies. While a relational approach is not a panacea for all issues associated with place-based policy implementation, it provides a means to inform the measurement and evaluation of rural health and community development policy.

Local governance responses to social inclusion for older rural Victorians: building resources, opportunities and capabilities.

To explore how local governance enables access to resources, creates opportunities and increases capability for older people in rural communities to experience social inclusion.

‘A Utilitarian Pursuit’: Swimming Education in Nineteenth-Century Australia and England

This paper builds on two doctoral studies conducted as socio-historical analyses of the development of swimming in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Australia [Victoria] and England. Within each study the progress of swimming education was a particular focus and it is this aspect that will underpin the approach taken in this comparative analysis. The central purpose of the paper is to re-examine the historical findings from each study and to explore the similarities and differences in the rationale for swimming education, the availability and provision of swimming education in each location, and to present initial comparisons in the status and value placed on swimming during this period. This is a qualitative, historical study and data have been gathered from a variety of sources including government papers, curriculum and Board of Education documents, swimming governing body reports, newspaper articles and nineteenth-century texts and journals.

Organizational Responsibility for Age-Friendly Social Participation: Views of Australian Rural Community Stakeholders

ABSTRACT This qualitative study critically explores the barriers experienced by diverse rural community stakeholders in facilitating environments that enable age-friendly social participation. Twenty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted across two rural Australian communities with stakeholders from local government, health, social care, and community organizations. Findings identify that rural community stakeholders face significant difficulties in securing resources for groups and activities catering to older adults, which subsequently impacts their capacity to undertake outreach to older adults. However, in discussing these issues, questions were raised in relation to whose responsibility it is to provide resources for community groups and organizations providing social initiatives and whose responsibility it is to engage isolated seniors. These findings provide a much-needed critical perspective on current age-friendly research by acknowledging the responsibilities of various macro-level social structures—different community-level organizations, local government, and policy in fostering environments to enable participation of diverse rural older adults.

‘A Question of Propriety?’: Women's Competitive Swimming in Melbourne, 1893–1900

The inauguration of the Victorian Amateur Swimming Association in 1893 as the supreme governing body for the sport in the colony of Victoria served to reinforce the notion of competitive swimming as a male enterprise, with women playing a passive and supporting role. However, by 1900 Melbourne women were staging their own successful competitive swimming carnivals, with significant public support. Through an examination of the press coverage of the period, this article explores the transition of female swimmers in Melbourne from spectators to sportswomen, and identifies a number of influences that contributed to the public acceptance of this particular activity. Factors such as the popularity of the sport with the female gentry, the passive support of females at male competitions, the inauguration of swimming instruction in state schools, and the exclusion of males from the initial women-only carnivals, were strongly emphasized in press coverage, and it was these features that were significant in developing the sport during the late nineteenth century in Melbourne.

Interrogating the Contested Spaces of Rural Aging: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice

Informed by a critical turn underway in rural gerontology, this article explores how the intersection of global and local trends relating to population aging and rural change create contested spaces of rural aging. The aim is to build our understanding of rural as a dynamic context within which the processes, outcomes, and experiences of aging are created, confronted, and contested by older adults and their communities. A review of key developments within gerontology and rural studies reveals how competing policies, discourses, and practices relating to healthy aging and aging in place, rural citizenship and governmentality, and social inclusion and inequality combine in particular ways to empower or disempower a diverse range of older rural adults aging in a diverse range of rural communities. The article provides a contextually sensitive perspective on potential sources of conflict and exclusion for older adults in dynamic rural spaces and further enhances our understanding of how rural physical and social environments are constructed and experienced in older age. A framework for interrogating emergent questions about aging in rural contexts is developed and implications for advancing research, policy, and practice are discussed.