'It takes a village': K-State helps rural Kansas community meet all generations' needs

How can small towns meet the educational, recreational and wellness needs of all their residents, young and old? Can one facility for 3-year-olds and 83-year-olds alike do the trick?

Kansas State University researchers are helping a rural Kansas town evaluate whether its new multi-use, multigenerational community center is meeting residents' needs in a way that improves educational outcomes, enhances quality of life and is fiscally sustainable.

Natalie Barlett, teaching assistant professor of psychology, and Heather Bailey, associate professor of psychology — both in K-State's College of Arts and Sciences — are leading the study in rural Logan, Kansas, which has a population of 436.

Members of a K-State research team meet with elementary school teachers at the Logan Intergenerational Family Education Center as they kick off a study of the center's benefits. | Download this photo.

Research evaluates benefits of mixing long-term care and elementary populations

The project, titled "It Takes a Village: A Multidisciplinary Project to Assess Impacts and Outcomes of an Intergenerational Program in a Rural Kansas Community," is taking place at the Logan Intergenerational Family Education Center, or LIFE Center.

The center integrates a long-term care facility with a preschool through fourth-grade elementary school, community gymnasium and wellness center. Students and long-term care residents are encouraged to interact with each other to enhance each others' quality of life.

The researchers will evaluate whether the young students experience social and academic improvement and whether the residents experience mental and physical health changes.

They will also assess staff members' workplace satisfaction and help the center achieve state standards of excellence to bolster its long-term success and funding.

"This work will benefit not only the residents of Logan but also of surrounding communities that need such a facility," said Mary Kohn, director of K-State's Chapman Center for Rural Studies and professor of English.

The Chapman Center awarded the research team a $15,000 Interdisciplinary Research Grant to conduct the study. The grant supports the cost of travel, materials and software to develop intergenerational programming, and the team will receive administrative and communications support from the center.

The Interdisciplinary Research Grant encourages creative collaboration among faculty in multiple specializations to either gain knowledge about rural life through partnership with Kansas communities or to improve quality of life for rural Kansans. It is supported by an endowment from the late Mark Chapman, an avid supporter of undergraduate research.

Other members of the research team are Justine Irving, associate teaching professor of gerontology; and Laci Cornelison, director of K-State's Center on Aging, both in the College of Health and Human Sciences; and Migette Kaup, professor of interior design in the College of Architecture, Planning & Design.

"We're thankful to have the grant to help us overcome one of the biggest hurdles of working with rural communities: distance between us," Barlett said. "And we're excited to help the Logan community improve its quality of life and economic concerns, and to gain insight that could benefit other rural Kansas communities as well."

An interdisciplinary K-State research team is studying a multigenerational-use center in rural Logan, Kansas. From left: Trase McQueen, Natalie Barlett, Heather Bailey, Laci Cornelison, Justine Irving and Phillips county extension agent Anna Muir. | Download this photo.

Community outreach gives K-State undergrads hands-on service learning

Scholarships are also being provided by the Chapman Center for undergraduate students to support the research and gain valuable applied learning experience in data collection and analysis and research presentation.

"Our undergraduate research assistants will observe and engage with the research team and the Logan community, gaining a deeper understanding of how research can serve and be shaped by local needs," said Barlett.

Kohn said the project is a perfect example of K-State's mission and vision to lead as a next-generation land-grant university.

"Logan's LIFE Center represents the best of rural resilience and ingenuity," Kohn said. "That strength and the town's partnership with highly skilled K-State faculty and student experts will no doubt influence both how communities tackle child and elder care challenges in the future and how we do research here at K-State."

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