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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Behavioral health workforce

Rural Suicide: One California County's Fight to Save Lives
Series of articles exploring the causes for high rates of suicide in rural areas of Northern California, including Amador, Calaveras, and Mariposa counties. Topics include shortages of mental health professionals and the higher risk of suicide among veterans and Native Americans.
Author(s): Sammy Caiola
Date: 2018
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Capital Public Radio
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Examining Substance Use Disorder Treatment Demand and Provider Capacity in a Changing Health Care System: Final Report
Assesses demand and capacity for substance use disorder treatment, with comparisons between years 2013 and 2016. Features statistics including numbers of clients, staff hours, percentage of facilities offering pharmacotherapies and accepting various insurance types, and distribution of specialty treatments, with breakdowns by urban and rural locations.
Additional links: In Focus Brief, May 2018
Author(s): Ellen Bouchery
Date: 12/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Rural Health Research Recap: Rural Behavioral Health
Summarizes key findings from the Rural Health Research Centers' most recent rural behavioral health projects. Discusses mental illness prevalence in rural areas, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among rural children, access to behavioral health services in rural communities, and rural behavioral health interventions. Provides links to each of the referenced source documents.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Research Gateway
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Psychiatry Distribution in Georgia as of 2015
Reports on the characteristics of psychiatrists in Georgia for the year 2015, including supply, distribution, and demographics. Provides data on psychiatrists practicing in metropolitan versus nonmetropolitan areas, and includes a map showing counties without psychiatrists.
Date: 10/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce
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Minnesota: Filling the Mental Health Pipeline
Discusses the mental health workforce in Minnesota including the educational pipeline, the licensed and unlicensed workforce, regional issues related to recruitment, and policy implications. Includes data about degrees completed, licenses gained after graduation, and population-to-provider ratios of the mental health workforce in Minnesota by rural or isolated, small town or small rural, micropolitan or large rural, and metropolitan.
Author(s): Alessia Leibert, Teri Fritsma
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
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The Supply and Distribution of the Behavioral Health Workforce in America: A State-Level Analysis
State-level analysis of the supply and distribution of the behavioral health workforce. Provides individual data briefs for each state and includes information on the following health professionals: psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and counselors. Findings are shown in actual numbers, as a ratio of providers per 100,000 population, and by metro/non-metro status. Builds on the work and research of an earlier companion brief.
Author(s): C. Holly A. Andrilla, Lisa A. Garberson, Davis G. Patterson, Eric H. Larson
Date: 07/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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Substance Use in Rural Central Appalachia: Current Status and Treatment Considerations
Examines the factors in rural Central Appalachia that influence substance misuse and the treatments, strategies, and interventions to curb drug misuse and improve treatment outcomes. Discusses how the combination of poverty, work-related distress, lack of healthcare coverage, and the shortage of qualified providers of substance use treatments affect the need for a multifaceted policy approach in the region.
Author(s): Lara Moody, Emily Satterwhite, Warren K. Bickel
Citation: Rural Mental Health, 41(2), 123-135
Date: 04/2017
Type: Document
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The Opioid Epidemic: Evidence Based Strategies Legislative Report
Discusses the causes and consequences of the opioid epidemic in Louisiana, as well as recommendations to help address it. Outlines differences between rural and urban areas of the state. Provides maps showing access to treatment programs and buprenorphine providers.
Date: 04/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Louisiana Commission on Preventing Opioid Abuse, Louisiana Department of Health
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Alaska Health Workforce Coalition 2017-2021 Action Agenda
Outlines priorities and provides guidance on system and capacity building initiatives to address Alaska's healthcare workforce needs. Includes discussion on rural recruitment programs, such as loan repayment and incentives, and a rural professional recruiting network.
Date: 2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Alaska Center for Rural Health and Health Workforce, University of Alaska Statewide Workforce Programs
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Rural Promising Practice Issue Brief: Training Community Clergy Partners to Increase Access to Care for Rural Veterans
Presents a toolkit and web-based module for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a mental health training program for clergy to help rural veterans. Discusses in-person and web-based training methods implemented in the pilot program. Includes outcomes regarding the increase of access to mental healthcare and clinical impact for rural veterans, among other factors.
Additional links: Overview
Author(s): James Goalder, Kristen Wing, Eric Crawford, Keith Ethridge
Date: 11/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Veterans Health Administration's Office of Rural Health
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