The church family and kin: An older rural Black woman's support network and preferences for care providers

Although kin and church are considered premier support sources for rural el ders,few scholars have undertaken descriptive studies to explore the nature of rural Black elders' support networks and their preferences for in-home service providers. In the case study described in this article, methods of support network analysis and descriptive phenomenology were used to analyze data from five lengthy, open-ended interviews with a 94-year-old rural Bla ck woman. The various groups and individuals of her network are labeled in her words, the network's supportive functions are described, and preference s for providers are noted. In addition, the varying structures of her home cave experience with the support network members art! described. Her attemp ts to voice and exercise her preferences for in-home service providers are explained in terms of two contrasting processes: preference uptake and pref erence suppression. Based on these findings, implications for appraising th e appropriateness of rural elders' in-home services are discussed.