Health in Rural Canada

Health research in Canada has mostly focused on urban areas, often overlooking the unique issues faced by Canadians living in rural and remote areas. This volume provides the first comprehensive overview of the state of rural health and health care in Canada, from coast to coast and in northern communities. Three themes are highlighted: rural places matter to health, rural places are unique, and rural places are dynamic.

The contributors bring insights and methodologies from nursing, social work, geography, epidemiology, and sociology and from community-based research to a full spectrum of topics: health literacy, rural health care delivery and training, Aboriginal health, web-based services and their application, rural palliative care, and rural health research and policy. Taken together, these wide-ranging and multifaceted explorations of the dynamic relationship between health and place offer researchers and policy-makers, students and practitioners a valuable resource for understanding the special, ever-changing needs of rural communities.

Judith C. Kulig is a registered nurse and professor within the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Lethbridge. Allison M. Williams is a health geographer and a faculty member in the School of Geography and Earth Sciences at McMaster University.

Health in Rural Canada makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the pressing issues and substantive challenges in rural health needs, practices, and policies. Illuminating rural health care and rural diversity, this book offers breadth and interdisciplinary perspectives that will benefit both policymakers and scholars in the field and serve as a useful classroom resource for students.