Users In Rural Areas Research Articles

Who goes online? Evidence of internet use patterns from rural Greece

This paper attempts to reveal the heterogeneity of Internet users in rural areas. Who is really using the Internet? Is it the farmer or other members of the rural family? Can rural areas be seen as a homogenous space or do different types of Internet users exist? Research is based on both the descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis techniques on a sample of 920 individuals in three administrative regions of rural Greece. Basic findings suggest that less than one out of three rural residents go online. A set of perceived potentials and pitfalls of Internet use are analyzed. Social networking and e-mail are the principal uses of the Internet, classifying users into three distinct types. For “basic users”, Internet access is influenced by income and gender while the “socially interactive users” are influenced by the existence of a young member in the family. For “farm oriented users”, Internet access is influenced by the digital divide between rural and urban location and by farmers' competency. The typology of users along with their perceptions regarding Internet use can provide useful policy insights on the ways that Internet access can contribute to diffusion of innovation and rural development.

Rural Drug Users: Factors Associated With Substance Abuse Treatment Utilization

The purpose of this study is to use a modified version of Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use to identify the correlates of the number of substance abuse treatment episodes received by rural drug users. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with 711 drug users in rural areas of Ohio, Arkansas, and Kentucky. Descriptive analyses examine rural drug users' substance use histories and retrospective substance abuse treatment service utilization patterns. A negative binomial regression model indicated that selected predisposing, historical health, and enabling factors were significantly associated with the utilization of substance abuse treatment among rural drug users. Despite high levels of recent and lifetime self-reported substance use among these rural drug users, treatment services were underutilized. Future studies are needed to examine the impact of the health care system and characteristics of the external environment associated with rural substance abuse treatment in order to increase utilization among drug users.

The Consequences of Personal Networks for Internet Use in Rural Areas

Why are there fewer Internet users in rural areas than in urban areas? Researchers addressing this question typically focus on the lack of Internet infrastructure and demographic factors in rural areas. Rural areas often lack affordable Internet connectivity and contain relatively high numbers of people who are unlikely to adopt Internet connections at home—specifically the elderly and those without a postsecondary education. Although infrastructure and demographics are undoubtedly important factors, equalizing Internet adoption in rural and urban areas may require more than simply providing infrastructure that is affordable to a population of the right demographic composition. Drawing on the personal network approach and the concept of direct network externality, the author argues that the composition of personal networks in rural areas may hamper general levels of Internet adoption and high-speed Internet connection at home. To examine the empirical validity of this argument, the author conducted descriptive and multivariate analyses on data collected from a random-digit dial survey of 2,200 American adults.

Predictors of Substance Abuse Treatment Entry Among Rural Illicit Stimulant Users in Ohio, Arkansas, and Kentucky

ABSTRACT Illicit drug use in the rural United States is increasingly common, yet little is known about drug users' treatment-seeking behaviors. This study identifies predictors of substance abuse treatment entry over 24 months among 710 illicit stimulant users in rural areas of Ohio, Arkansas, and Kentucky. Active users of powdered cocaine, crack cocaine, and/or methamphetamine (MA) were recruited using respondent-driven sampling. Participants completed structured interviews at baseline and follow-up questionnaires every 6 months for 24 months. Data were analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards model. The paper is informed by the Anderson-Newman Model. Overall, 18.7% of the sample entered treatment. Ohio or Kentucky residence, perceived need for substance abuse treatment, higher Addiction Severity Index (ASI) legal problem composite scores, prior substance abuse treatment, and tranquilizer use were positively associated with treatment entry. Nondaily crack cocaine users and marijuana users were less likely to enter treatment. The findings can help inform rural substance abuse treatment program development and outreach.

Health Status of Illicit Stimulant Drug Users in Rural Ohio

The SF-8 health survey was used to assess the physical and mental health status of a community sample of not-in-treatment, illicit stimulant drug-using adults (n = 249) living in rural Ohio. Physical health status scores indicative of poor health were present in 30.5% of the sample. Poor physical health was associated with older age (OR = 1.06; 95% C.I. = 1.02 – 1.11), chronic disease (OR = 2.24, 95% C.l. = 1.14 – 4.40), and frequent opioid use (OR = 3.14, 95% C.I. = 1.16 – 8.50). Poor mental health status scores were present in 63.9% of the sample. Men were less likely (OR = 0.25, 95% C.I. = 0.11 – 0.53), and Whites more likely (OR = 3.97, 95% C.I. = 1.56 – 10.13), to have poor mental health scores. Frequency and type of drug use had no measurable effect on mental health status. Physical and mental health problems are likely to be pervasive among nonmedical drug users in rural areas.

Perceived need for substance abuse treatment among illicit stimulant drug users in rural areas of Ohio, Arkansas, and Kentucky

Non-medical drug use in rural communities in the United States is a significant and growing public health threat. Understanding what motivates drug users in rural areas to seek substance abuse treatment may help in addressing the problem. Perceived need for treatment, a construct indicative of problem recognition and belief in problem solution, has been identified as an important predictor of help-seeking behavior. This cross-sectional study used data collected through face-to-face interviews to examine factors associated with perceived need for drug abuse treatment among not-in-treatment, adult, illicit stimulant drug users ( n = 710) in rural areas of Ohio, Kentucky, and Arkansas. More than one-quarter of the sample perceived a need for treatment. Results from a stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that white users, users with better physical and mental health status, and occasional users of methamphetamine were significantly less likely to see a need for treatment. Users with higher Addiction Severity Index composite scores for family/social problems or legal problems, and users with prior drug abuse treatment experience were significantly more likely to perceive a need for treatment. These findings have practical implications for efforts addressing substance abuse in rural areas.

Methamphetamine Use and Adverse Consequences in the Rural Southern United States: An Ethnographic Overview

Research on methamphetamine use and related issues often uses data from in-treatment and post-treatment populations in urban areas. Rural ethnographic studies are less common. particularly selfassessments by active methamphetamine users that explore use patterns and their adverse consequences. Such work is especially rare in the rural South. where illicit methamphetamine manufacture and use have recently been increasing. This article presents an ethnographic overview of methamphetamine use in rural Kentucky and Arkansas based on qualitative interviews conducted with 34 active, not-intreatment, primary methamphetamine users. Methamphetamine supply, distribution. and prevalence of methamphetamine use are described. Pathways and motivations for methamphetamine use and use patterns are outlined as well. A discussion of the adverse consequences and potential risks of methamphetamine use follows. The findings indicate that informed drug treatment outreach and reduction of potential adverse consequences among methamphetamine users in rural areas are important issues for public health and for interventions.

Use of Iron- and Manganese-Oxidizing Bacteria for the Combined Removal of Iron, Manganese and Arsenic from Contaminated Groundwater

Abstract The problem of groundwater contamination with arsenic has been under extensive discussion, especially in recent years, because of its adverse effects on human health and its widespread presence in groundwater throughout the world. Large drinking water plants in developed countries normally find alternative and arsenic-free water resources, or they apply conventional arsenic removal methods, such as coagulation/filtration, activated alumina and ion exchange. Smaller towns, communities and individual users in rural areas often rely on local water resources and the respective removal methods developed mainly for larger water treatment plants are not easily applicable, because of high operational and capital costs, or they are simply too complicated and their use is sometimes limited by the specific water composition. Consequently, small drinking water systems face the difficult challenge in providing a safe and sufficient supply of drinking water at a reasonable cost. Alternative treatment methods have been developed for application in these cases. In the present paper, the simultaneous removal of arsenic during biological iron and manganese oxidation is reviewed. The method relies on the use of indigenous non-pathogenic iron- and manganese-oxidizing bacteria. Dissolved iron and manganese species often coexist with arsenic in groundwater. Therefore, the application of this method could provide consumers with water of high quality, which is practically free of iron, manganese and arsenic, complying with the respective legislative limits. In this paper the biological oxidation of iron and manganese has been reviewed and recent findings regarding the removal of arsenic have been summarized. Arsenic(III or V) can be removed efficiently from a wide range of initial concentrations with practically limited operational cost, apart from the capital costs for the installation of treatment units. As a result, the use of chemical reagents for the oxidation of trivalent arsenic can be avoided, because As(III) was efficiently oxidized to As(V) by these bacteria (acting as catalysts) under similar conditions, which are usually applied for the removal of iron and manganese by biological means.

Needles in the Haystacks: The Social Context of Initiation to Heroin Injection in Rural Ohio

Although there has been much research on the social context of heroin injection, little has been reported outside of major urban areas. This article examines contextual factors associated with initiation to heroin injection in rural Ohio, based on semistructured qualitative interviews and focus groups involving 25 recent heroin injectors (12 women, 13 men) recruited from three contiguous counties between June 2002 and February 2004. Curiosity about the drug's effects, the growing pressures of drug dependence and economic need, and the influence of intimate and group relations were all identified as factors that offset fears commonly associated with injection. This study complements other research on the social ecology of heroin injection and may contribute to improved services for injection drug users in rural areas and small communities.

QoS provisioning in GEO satellite with onboard processing using predictor algorithms

Recently, IP satellite networks have attracted considerable interest as a technology to deliver high-bandwidth IP-based multimedia services to nationwide areas. In particular, IP satellite networks seem to be one of the most promising technologies for connecting users in rural areas, where a wired high-speed network (e.g., xDSL) is not foreseen to be used. However, one of the main problems arising here is to guarantee specific quality of service constraints in order to have good performance for each traffic class. Among various QoS approaches used in the Internet, recently the DiffServ technique has become the most promising solution, mainly for its scalability with respect to the IntServ approach. Moreover, in satellite communication systems, DiffServ computational capabilities are placed at the edge points, reducing the implementation complexity of the satellite onboard equipment. This article deals with the problem of QoS provisioning for packet traffic by considering some resource allocation schemes, including bandwidth allocation techniques and priority-driven onboard switching algorithms. As to the first aim, the proposed technique takes advantage of proper statistical traffic modeling to predict future bandwidth requests. This approach takes into consideration DiffServ-based traffic management to guarantee QoS priority among different users. Moreover, the satellite onboard switching problem has been addressed by considering a suitable implementation of the DiffServ policy based on a cellular neural network.

The Female Condom: Acceptability and Perception among Rural Women in Zimbabwe

This study was conducted to generate data for developing an action plan for accessing the female condom through primary health care centres in Zimbabwe. It used both quantitative and qualitative methods to gather information from sexually active women and men on the perception and acceptability of the female condom among users in rural areas of Zimbabwe. The findings show that very few women had used the female condom prior to the survey. Several women (93%) liked the condom especially young women aged 20-39 years (83%), compared to older women aged 40 years and above (11%). Both women and men liked the dual role of contraception and protection against STIs including HIV/AIDS played by the female condom. Most women (98%) felt that it is important for women to have their own condom. However, both men and women pointed out that it will be difficult to introduce the female condom in married situations due to the stigma associated with condoms in general. Over 80% of women said they will have to seek permission from their partners to use the female condom. Women had problems with inserting the condom and were concerned with lubrication, size and appearance, and how to dispose of used condom. Regarding cost, 77% felt that the female condom is too expensive given that the male condom can be obtained free from health centres. The cost of the female condom could hinder its continued use and would encourage women, especially commercial sex workers, to re-use it. Respondents still require more information relating to side effects (45%), effectiveness in STIs prevention including HIV/AIDS (44%), proper use (43%) and cost (32%).

Fertility, Contraceptive Use and Family Planning Program Activity in the Islamic Republic of Iran

This study examined contraceptive prevalence in Iran modern method mix sources of supply unwanted pregnancy fertility and desire for small families. Data were obtained from KAP surveys conducted in 1989 and yearly during 1992-97 among about 10000 rural and 10000 urban women 15-49 years old. A demographic and health type survey is planned for 1999. The Islamic government increased commitment to family planning and small family size in the 1990s. Findings indicate that contraceptive prevalence increased from 37% to 65% during the 1970s to 1992. In 1997 66% of rural women and 77% of urban women were using contraception. The pill was the most popular method in 1992. About 43% of modern method use in urban areas and 64% in rural areas was the pill. 21% of modern method users in urban areas used the IUD. 18% of modern method users in rural areas had tubectomies. Condoms were 17% of modern method use by urban women and 10% by rural women. By 1997 pill use declined; tubectomy use increased. 57% of modern methods were obtained from public services. In 1996 many illiterate women chose tubectomy; a smaller proportion of illiterate men chose vasectomy. About 30% of pill users did not take the pill correctly. High parity pregnancies were more likely to be unwanted. Fertility in 1996 was 2.8 births/woman. Literacy in 1996 was 74% for women over 6 years old. Literacy for rural women was 62%.

Drug Use in the Scottish Highlands

Relatively few studies have been conducted in rural, or semi rural locations that permit comparisons to be drawn with studies of drug use in urban areas. This study examined patterns of drug use in the Scottish Highlands. It was found that all forms of drug use occur in the Highlands, and that injecting levels may be at least as high in rural as in urban areas, but with major variations across districts. Overall the data suggest that patterns and frequency of drug use are not substantially different in a rural area from those in an urban area. The difficulty of establishing services for drug users in rural areas is also addressed.

Participation in Landcare Groups: the Relative Importance of Attitudinal and Situational Factors

Landcare groups are largely autonomous groups of people, mainly land users in rural areas, whose objectives are to deal with problems of land degradation and to develop more sustainable farming systems and land-management practices. Given the rapid growth in the number of landcare groups in Australia in recent years, this paper examines the extent to which theories on the adoption/diffusion of innovations help to explain participation in such groups. Data from a mail survey of a nation-wide sample of Australian farmers ( N = 1755) indicate that although landcare group membership has bivariate associations with various attitudinal and situational variables, including several of those identified in adoption/diffusion theories, some of these linkages become non-significant under logistic regression. The data are consistent with the proposition that attitudinal variables are especially important in explaining or predicting landcare group membership in the movement's early stages; but that as the proportion of farmers participating increases, situational variables become increasingly important.

Rural users information requirements for social welfare and family planning

The level of structural specialization in rural development organization family planning included shoud be determined as much as possible by the social and economic oranization of the potential project participants rather than by the degree of specialization considered necessary for the most efficient dispatch of government business by the project planners. In sum a contextual approach is required. Any treatment of information concerning social welfare and family planning needs a definition of these terms and a methodology whereby such definitions can be made for different countries. At this time information on population and family welfare is of recent origin disorganized and voluminous due to a lack of clear policy objectives. The massive amounts of population information now being generated fail to trickle down to potential users in rural areas. Often the information available to workers does not give a clear idea of traditional customs beliefs and practices with respect to reproductive behavior. Users need information which emphasizes the policy significance of a social welfare approach for both family planning and for rural development generally. From the perspective of a rural user project and program personnel an information system should be manageable. An information system should be able to present information which is timely reliable valid organized not voluminous unambiguous significant to particular information user constituency offer guidance to user and be applicable at local country regional and/or global level.