Penn State University requests support for an Exploratory Center on the Health and Functioning of Older Rural Populations. This Center,named the Center on Aging and Health in Rural America (CAHRA),will promote interdisciplinary research on: (1) The effects of individual socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, community attributes, migration, and formal institutional and social support networks of rural elderly on their physical health and psychological well-being; (2) The effects of demographic change in rural populations on the organization of health care services in nonmetropolitan counties; (3) The impact of the ongoing reorganization of health care services in the U.S. on the delivery of adequate and appropriate acute- and long-term care in nonmetropolitan counties; and (4) The effects of characteristics of individuals communities, support networks, and health care providers on the effective utilization of health care services by the rural elderly. To accomplish this program CAHRA will (1) provide opportunities for researchers to form interdisciplinary research teams that will generate new research ideas and approaches; (2) foster a rural focus in existing research on aging and health; and (3) encourage expansion of rural research programs to include aspects of aging and health. The Center will have two core components, the Administrative and Planning Core (APC) and the Small-Scale Grants Core (SGC). The APC will (1) provide integrative planning and leadership to focus faculty and research resources on CAHRA's goals; (2) promote the development of a long-range research agenda on aging and health in rural America through annual seminar series and the second-year Workshop; and (3) select pilot projects to be funded by CAHRA and guide project investigators in the development of strong research proposals to NIA. Consistent with CAHRA's goals, the development of interdisciplinary proposals will be given priority. Six pilot research proposals that initially constitute the SGC are submitted with this application and procedures for generating additional pilot projects are described. The APC will work to guarantee that each of these preliminary projects will culminate in R01 or POI grant applications to NIA for research on aging and health in rural America.
