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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health disparities

Rural Quality of Life: Opportunities and Challenges for the Rural Care Economy
Recording of a March 22, 2022, hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry on challenges and opportunities for the care economy in rural communities. Features testimony from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Rural Development, the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center, and Southeast Health Group, a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) in rural La Junta, Colorado.
Additional links: Carrie Henning-Smith, University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center - Testimony, Joseph Carrica, Southeast Health Group - Testimony
Date: 03/2022
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
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Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program: Directory, 2021-2025
Provides contact information and brief overviews of 61 initiatives funded under the Rural Health Care Outreach Services grant program in the 2021-2025 funding cycle. Includes projects in the Healthy Rural Hometown Initiative (HRHI) track, which focus on rural health disparities related to the five leading causes of avoidable death: heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke. Also includes projects in the Outreach track that address a wide variety of rural healthcare needs.
Date: 03/2022
Sponsoring organization: Federal Office of Rural Health Policy
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Tobacco Product Use Among Adults — United States, 2020
Examines use of combustible and noncombustible tobacco products among people aged 18 or older, using data from the 2020 National Health Interview Survey. Features statistics on prevalence of cigarette smoking and use of other tobacco products with breakdowns including urban or rural location, and percentage of adults who smoked cigarettes every day with breakdowns by year from 2005-2020.
Author(s): Monica E. Cornelius, Caitlin G. Loretan, Teresa W. Wang, Ahmed Jamal, David M. Homa
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 71(11), 397-405
Date: 03/2022
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Rural Adults Report Worse Employment and Economic Impacts from COVID-19 than Urban Adults
Brief examining rural and urban differences in the impacts of COVID-19 on physical and mental health, financial well-being, employment, and social relationships among adults age 18-64. Analyzes data from the 2021 National Wellbeing Survey of 4,014 adults.
Author(s): Shannon M. Monnat
Date: 03/2022
Sponsoring organization: Rural Population Research Network
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Exploring Perceived Risk for COVID-19 and Its Role in Protective Behavior and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Qualitative Study after the First Wave
Presents a study on the perceived risk of COVID-19 among rural Kentuckians during the first wave of the pandemic. Explores attitudes about protective behavior and vaccine hesitancy. Bases conclusions on interviews conducted by phone between July 3rd and July 24th of 2020.
Author(s): Naomi J. Patterson, Valerie A. Paz-Soldan, Richard Oberhelman, et al.
Citation: BMC Public Health, 22, 503
Date: 03/2022
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Educating Future Healthcare Providers: Health Literacy Opportunities for Webside Manners
Discusses best practices for teaching health literacy principles to healthcare profession trainees. Features several programs that are helping students learn how to support the health literacy of their future patients.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 03/2022
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Assessment of Structural Barriers and Racial Group Disparities of COVID-19 Mortality With Spatial Analysis
Explores social determinants of health such as minority status, income inequality, and lack of health insurance, among others, and their relationship to COVID-19 mortality rates. Analyzes data from rural, suburban, and urban counties across all 50 states from January 2020 to February 2021. Includes demographic data such as age, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic advantage index, and more.
Author(s): Qinyun Lin, Susan Paykin, Dylan Halpern
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 5(3)
Date: 03/2022
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Disparities in COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Between Urban and Rural Counties — United States, December 14, 2020–January 31, 2022
Examines COVID-19 vaccination disparities between urban and rural people 5 years of age and older. Discusses factors that may have contributed to vaccination disparities, including healthcare access, views about COVID-19 specifically, and vaccine hesitancy more generally. Provides data based on a 6-level urban-rural classification and a 2-level urban-rural classification, with vaccination coverage by sex, age group, and state. Also includes data on vaccine series completion and receipt of a booster or additional dose.
Author(s): Ryan Saelee, Elizabeth Zell, Bhavini Patel Murthy, et al.
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 71(9), 335-340
Date: 03/2022
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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COVID-19 and Alabama's Black Belt
Issue brief examining COVID-19 impacts on the Black Belt region of Alabama and rural Alabama in general, highlighting health outcome disparities. Addresses chronic diseases affecting residents of the Black Belt, access to primary care physicians, and policy recommendations to support healthcare in the region.
Author(s): Emily Grace Corley, Garrett Till, Sean O'Brien, Stephen G. Katsinas, Nathaniel J. Bray
Date: 03/2022
Sponsoring organization: The University of Alabama Education Policy Center
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Supportive Environments During the Substance Use Disorder Epidemic in the Rural United States: Provider Support for Interventions and Expectations of Interactions With Providers
Explores perceptions of provider support for syringe service programs (SSPs) and medications for addiction treatment (MAT) among rural and urban communities. Breaks down data by levels of trust in providers, levels of perceived provider support for different interventions, and other factors.
Author(s): Thomas C. O'Brien, Judith Feinberg, Robert Gross, Dolores Albarracín
Citation: Social Science & Medicine, 294, 114691
Date: 02/2022
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