KILLEEN — Dr. Michael Dailey, Regents Professor and Chair for the Department of Social Work at Texas A&M University–Central Texas, has published a new book focusing on social work in rural areas.
Released earlier this month,
Back Home: Opportunities and Challenges of Social Work with Rural Communities, was published by Oxford University Press and is a collection of readings by leading authors in the field of rural social work. Daley authored six of the chapters and served as co-editor of the book, along with Dr. Peggy Pittman-Munke of Murray State University.
Daley said the book addresses society’s misunderstanding of rural people and the communities in which they live.
“Rural communities are home to about 18 percent of the population and they are a valuable part of our society as they are where much of our food, energy, and raw materials are produced,” he said. “Yet rural communities are often denied important services such as health care.”
Daley said the book was written for social workers and human service providers to help them better understand and address these needs.
This book is a follow-up to Rural Social Work in the 21st Century that Daley published 10 years ago. That book has been used as a training tool and textbook for social work education. Daley said the new book hits a little different target audience.
“This one has more specialized topics and is intended more for people in the field and for graduate students,” he said.
Daley said the new book is based on feedback he received from readers of his previous book who would offer suggestion for topics they would like covered.
“Folks would talk to me and say, ‘we liked your book, but …’” he said. “I tried to pay attention to what the ‘buts’ were. What is it that could be added and what could be said. [This book] takes some topics that previously I may have only devoted a page to and makes them into entire chapters. It gives a lot more detail.”
He said the inclusion of other authors also adds more voices and ideas to the conversation. Topics covered include, social work ethics and values, rural social work history, rural child welfare, clinical practice, advanced generalist practice, working with the rural elderly, rural housing and homelessness, mental health and day laborers, community development, and more.
Back Home: Opportunities and Challenges of Social Work with Rural Communities is available for purchase at various book retailers.