They care about the wider community, about helping someone else's children. It's been very gratifying to me. Macon resident Barbara Alston is one such participant. I thought it was a good idea, and it would help the community out. It did take a fair amount of time, but I don't mind helping out.
Wood describes community support for the study as overwhelming.
Using the data they collect and analyze, Wood explains that investigators will write articles for journals read by professionals everywhere, which may influence how rural communities offer services to young people who live there. To ensure that a true cross section of the community is represented, Duke chose families randomly from lists of children enrolled in public schools in the four counties. Researchers initially interviewed almost 5,000 families by phone. Now they're following up by interviewing a subgroup of 1,000 families over a three-year period. We're trying to take a general look at the whole population in the rural communities.