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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Project Examples: Wellness, health promotion, and disease prevention

Promising Examples

Updated/reviewed April 2023

  • Need: To improve the health and well-being of young people in the rural area of Massachusetts's Franklin County and North Quabbin, and to reduce youth drug and alcohol use.
  • Intervention: A community-based prevention coalition was formed to improve youth health and well-being and reduce youth drug and alcohol use use. The coalition brings together stakeholders from across the community and uses the Communities That Care evidence-based community planning system.
  • Results: CTC has seen significant reductions in substance abuse among local youth in the 30 rural towns they serve.

Updated/reviewed March 2023

  • Need: To improve access to healthy food and physical activity in rural Alabama.
  • Intervention: Researchers hold focus groups with community members to identify issues of the most concern and then help them implement appropriate interventions like installing playground equipment.
  • Results: From 2014 to 2018, 14 coalitions implemented 101 interventions in 16 communities.

Updated/reviewed June 2022

  • Need: To reduce smoking rates of pregnant women and adolescents in Appalachian regions of eastern Kentucky and Ohio.
  • Intervention: A web-based smoking cessation program that offered monetary incentives to reducing smoking.
  • Results: Participants significantly reduced smoking rates or quit altogether.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed July 2020

  • Need: To improve the oral health status of children ages 3 to 17 living in rural areas of Louisiana.
  • Intervention: School-based nurse practitioners perform oral health assessments, apply fluoride varnishes when indicated, and make dental referrals, with completion rates of the latter tracked by dental case managers.
  • Results: Significant numbers of school children are receiving oral health examinations, fluoride varnish applications, and receiving care coordination to improve numbers of completed dental appointments.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed May 2020

  • Need: To reduce the prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in rural Colorado.
  • Intervention: Community Health Workers are utilized to create a system of coordinated care in Delta, Montrose, Ouray, and San Miguel counties.
  • Results: As of 2018, 2,709 people have been screened for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, with many at-risk patients lowering cholesterol, blood pressure, and A1C levels after engaging with a Community Health Worker.
funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Updated/reviewed December 2019

  • Need: To educate youth about obesity and healthy lifestyle choices.
  • Intervention: An educational program about healthy living was implemented in Lincoln and Claiborne Parishes in Louisiana for youth ages 9-18.
  • Results: Youth4Health program produced greater awareness and participation in healthier lifestyles by target youth and their families, as well as church congregations.

Other Project Examples

Updated/reviewed January 2025

  • Need: To promote mental health and prevent substance use disorders in rural Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska.
  • Intervention: Coast to Forest strengthens local capacity through training, technical assistance, education, and community partnerships.
  • Results: In its five years of operation, the project has trained over 800 individuals across the Pacific Northwest in Mental Health First Aid, developed 100 county-level resource guides, organized a series of Community Conversations in five rural Oregon counties, and more.

Added January 2025

  • Need: Rural cancer survivors report lower levels of physical activity and higher rates of psychosocial distress compared to their urban counterparts.
  • Intervention: Researchers collaborated with a rural-serving organization in northeast Texas to test a 3-month intervention which enhanced an existing exercise program with behavioral health education, yoga, and home-based exercise components.
  • Results: Program participants were twice as likely to report meeting physical activity recommendations at post-intervention than participants in a control group and reported significant reductions in psychosocial distress.

Added January 2025

  • Need: To increase physical activity and quality of life in rural Cuba, New Mexico.
  • Intervention: Step Into Cuba works to make the community more pedestrian-friendly by creating and improving hiking trails and other places to walk.
  • Results: This program has led to new or improved trails, sidewalks and crosswalks, lighting on streets, walking groups, and walking events, among other achievements.

Added December 2024

  • Need: To provide basic pregnancy-related and preventive health services to women in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.
  • Intervention: A mobile clinic travels to different communities and provides basic preventive care, contraception, and pregnancy testing and ultrasounds.
  • Results: Since the program began, clinical staff have provided services to nearly 6,000 women.