The Best Practices in Communication with Rural Older Adults course provides communication strategies for health care professionals working with rural older adults.

This course introduces learners to barriers in communication for rural older adults and how health care professionals can overcome these barriers.  By completing this course, learners will be able to recognize the impact of communication practices that positively contribute to the psychosocial aspect of care for the rural older adult population, describe essential components and appropriate nursing interventions in communication with the rural aging population,  identify physiological changes and pathological conditions that affect communication in the older rural adult population including strategies to overcome barriers to communication, and differentiate the concepts and significance of touch, intimacy, and sexuality and describe strategies to better communicate with rural older adults about these topics. 

About this Series:

The Care of Older Adults in Rural America (COA-RA) Series was created through a partnership between HIGN and the University of Memphis. The courses in this series were created through funding provided by the US Health Resources and Services Administration. These courses are designed to help the learner recognize factors that impact the well-being of older adults through the lens of rural life by examining poor health outcomes and providing strategies to improve their health.