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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Families

The Family Engagement Toolkit: Guidance for Early Childhood Home Visiting Programs on Improving Outreach, Recruitment, and Retention
Presents The Family Engagement Toolkit, a set of resources focused on improving engagement with early childhood home visiting programs. Provides tools for program evaluation, goal setting, and prioritizing community and family needs. Includes suggestions specific to rural communities.
Author(s): Rebecca Kleinman, Annie Buonaspina, Emily Rosen, et al.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: Administration for Children and Families
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Study Team Perspectives on a Multisite Randomized Clinical Trial with Underserved Rural Populations: A Mixed Methods Feasibility Analysis
Surveys clinical trial study staff on barriers and facilitators of conducting the iAmHealthy Intervention, a mobile health-based clinical trial focused on addressing obesity among rural families and children. Discusses participant recruitment, engagement, and retention, best practices for communicating study procedures and expectations, experiences working with rural populations, and more.
Author(s): Kristina L. Foster, Sarah Sanders, Christi A. Madden, et al.
Citation: PLoS One, 20(9), e0333229
Date: 09/2025
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Co-Creating Non-Congregate Summer Meals: Engaging Your Community to Design Your Program
Examines collaborative processes to create successful non-congregate summer meal programs in rural communities. Discusses a pilot program in Florida and offers suggestions related to meal sites, activities for children, caregiver appreciation, and more.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: No Kid Hungry
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Promoting Intergenerational Health in Rural Kentuckians With Diabetes (PIHRK'D): Protocol for a Longitudinal Cohort Study
Study protocol analyzing whether family participation influences the effectiveness of a nutritional education intervention for rural Kentuckians with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Author(s): Brittany L. Smalls, Courtney L. Ortz, Makenzie Barr-Porter, et al.
Citation: JMIR Research Protocols, 14, e69301
Date: 07/2025
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The 2025 State of Poverty in Ohio Report
Provides information on poverty in Ohio, with a focus on pharmacy, food, and additional healthcare/human services deserts. Includes county-level information on individual and family poverty rates, food insecurity, insurance status, housing, and more.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies
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Transforming School-Based Telehealth through Rural Partnerships
Webinar recording discusses how Eastern Oklahoma Medical Center implemented a school-based telemedicine program to improve access to care in rural and low-income Oklahoma communities. Details challenges and lessons learned related to billing and policy development, communication with parents, and partnerships with rural school nurses and administrators. Transcript available below the video description.
Additional links: Presentation Slides
Author(s): Tiffany Griffis
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organization: Heartland Telehealth Resource Center
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Program Impact Report: Healthy Families Produce Rx Program
Examines Healthy Families Produce Rx, a produce prescription program in rural Louisiana focused on reducing food insecurity and increasing access to fresh produce. Provides data on program and participant characteristics as well the impact on food security and participant health.
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organization: No Kid Hungry
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Maintenance of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Behaviors Among Adolescents and Their Caregivers: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
Examines intake of sugar-sweetened beverages among rural, Central Appalachian students and their caregivers at 19 months after their participation in the Kids SIPsmartER behavior-change intervention, which focused on reducing intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) via classroom-based lessons for middle school students and an SMS strategy for their caregivers.
Author(s): Annie Reid, Wen You, Theresa Markwalter, et al.
Citation: Preventing Chronic Disease, 22, 240520
Date: 06/2025
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Differences in COVID-19 Testing Perceptions among Caregivers of Children with Medical Complexity by Rurality
Examines how COVID-19 testing access, intent to test, and related perceptions among caregivers of children with one or more complex chronic conditions surveyed between April and June 2022.
Author(s): Kristina Devi Singh-Verdeflor, Michelle M. Kelly, Gregory P. DeMuri, et al.
Citation: PLOS ONE, 20(5), e0323651
Date: 05/2025
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Relevance and Acceptability of a Technology-Delivered Childhood Obesity Intervention for Hispanic/Latino Families in Rural Nebraska: A Qualitative Approach
Examines program strengths and challenges, implementation concerns, and cultural relevance of Hispanic Family Connections, a Spanish-language childhood obesity intervention for Latino families in rural Nebraska, via focus group interviews with 26 participants.
Author(s): Thais F. Alves, Natalia Santos, Camila Squarcini, et al.
Citation: Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, 16
Date: 05/2025
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