Marilyn M. Gardner, PhD, Department of Public Health, Western Kentucky University, 1 Big Red Way, STH 410E, Bowling Green, KY 42101, 270.745.5864, marilyn.gardner@wku.edu, M. Susan Jones, MSN, Department of Nursing, Western Kentucky University, 1 Big Red Way, Bowling Green, KY 42101, and Jan Peeler, MSW, Department of Social Work, Western Kentucky University, 1 Big Red Way, Bowling Green, KY 42101.

Health Enhancement of the Rural Elderly (HERE) is a three-year project designed to maximize the effective use of the health care system among the rural elderly. A major initiative of the project was to develop, implement, and evaluate educational modules that enhance patient-provider communication through improved health literacy and communication skills. The presentation will provide an overview of the process by which this multi-component intervention was developed using an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students from nursing, public health education, and social work, in conjunction with an expert panel of community practitioners. Also presented will be the findings from the first year of implementation in a medically underserved rural community in the mid-south: A quasi-experimental pre-post design was used to test the effectiveness of the modules. Lessons learned and future directions for the final year of the project will be discussed as well.

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to state the health literarcy needs of the rural elderly.
• At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to incorporate lessons learned from the project into their practice.
• At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to verbalize the benefits and challenges of an interdisciplinary approach to developing and implementing community-based projects with the rural elderly.

Keywords: Health Literacy, Rural Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.