Health, Financial Status, and Social Participation of Retired Rural Men and Women: Implications for Educational Intervention

The results of an investigation of the health, financial status, and social participation of retired rural men and women are presented, and the implications of the findings for educational interventions with retired men and women are discussed. Respondents were 252 men and 199 women who participated in the retirement substudy of a larger epidemiological investigation of persons age 65 or older in two rural Iowa counties. With respect to health, 25% of women and 28% of men rated their health as only fair or poor. With respect to financial status, 21% of women and 17% of men rated their financial status as less adequate or much less adequate than before retirement. Retired women reported significantly lower incomes and perceived their financial situation to be significantly less adequate than did retired men. With respect to social participation, retired women reported significantly more contact with close relatives and participated in organizations and in volunteer work significantly more frequently than did retired men, whereas retired men retained significantly more friends from preretirement than did retired women. Educational interventions including health promotion education, retirement education programs, senior center programming, and use of telecommunications to reach isolated retirees are discussed.