An introduction to three studies of rural elderly people: effects of religion and culture on health.

The paper introduces three empirical studies which relate the religious beliefs and practices or rural older adults from different ethnic groups to their health behaviors. It briefly describes the rationale for the studies and their main components, including their aims, study sites, study populations, methods used, and their principal findings. Then it discusses two primary themes which run through all the papers, namely rurality and cross-cultural comparisons. Finally, several secondary themes are discussed, including the importance of place, types of analysis, variable definition, causal relationships among variables, types of healing, locus of control, discourses about religion and health, and the religion and health connection.