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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health literacy

Engaging Community Health Workers/Youth Ambassadors to Improve Health Literacy: Proceedings of a Workshop – in Brief
Summarizes presentations and discussions from an April 2023 workshop on the use of community health workers and youth ambassadors to promote health literacy in their communities. Highlights lessons learned by Advancing Health Literacy to Enhance Equitable Community Responses to COVID-19 and the National Infrastructure for Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 within Racial and Ethnic Minority Communities (NIMIC) grantees who implemented health literacy approaches in community health worker and youth ambassador programs. Includes rural references throughout.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 07/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Promoting Health Literacy through Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS)
Recording of a June 8, 2023, conference session on health literacy and culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) as part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Health Equity Conference. Features a presentation from the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences on the Targeted Rural Health Education Project, in which health sciences students write newspaper articles on medical topics of importance to the rural communities they serve. Transcript available by clicking the dots above the video description, then selecting Show transcript.
Additional links: Kay Miller Temple and David Schmitz, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences - Presentation Slides
Date: 06/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Video Brochures in a Mailed Fecal Immunochemical Test Outreach Program Provide Cancer Screening Information in a User-friendly Format for Rural Appalachian Community Members
Presents a study on the efficacy of using a video brochure to provide colorectal cancer (CRC) screening information and instructions for a fecal immunochemical tests (FITs) sent out to rural patients in Appalachian Ohio. Explores the barriers to CRC screening, including the low rates of returning FITs, and discusses the effect the video brochure had on this process.
Author(s): Mira L. Katz, Abigail B. Shoben, Sabrina Newell, et al.
Citation: Journal of Rural Health
Date: 06/2023
Type: Document
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Best Practices for COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing
Summarizes findings of an environmental scan of testing and vaccination policies and programs serving people who are medically or socially at disproportionate risk for COVID-19 and related adverse outcomes. Identifies populations at disproportionate risk, including rural residents, and their barriers to COVID-19 testing, COVID-19 vaccination, and routine vaccination. Describes programs that aim to overcome these barriers and increase access to testing and vaccination services. Discuss the implications of these programs' strategies and approaches for future pandemics and public health crises.
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Mathematica
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Role of Rural Libraries in Promoting Digital Health Literacy
Webinar highlighting a rural library's efforts to increase digital health literacy and healthcare access in rural Texas. Discusses telehealth, broadband access inequities and digital literacy, transportation issues, aging in place, community health workers working in libraries, emergency response, circulating medical equipment, and summer meals for students. Transcript available by clicking the dots above the video description, then selecting Show transcript.
Date: 03/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Network of the National Library of Medicine
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Rural Americans' COVID-19 Vaccine Perceptions and Willingness to Vaccinate against COVID-19 with Their Community Pharmacists: An Exploratory Study
Presents a study on the perceptions of rural people on the COVID-19 vaccine and their willingness to receive a vaccine from their community pharmacist. Bases findings on phone-based interviews with rural adults. Breaks down data by age, sex, and education, among other measures.
Author(s): Alexis M. Koskan, Iris E. LoCoco, Casey L. Daniel, et al.
Citation: Vaccines, 11(1), 171
Date: 01/2023
Type: Document
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Hidden Crisis: Pediatric Oral Health In Rural America
Highlights barriers to rural pediatric oral health, along with proposed solutions. Examines Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas, oral health literacy, and needed Medicaid reforms. Features model oral health programs in Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Louisiana, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, and includes profiles of several rural providers.
Author(s): Michael A. Ignelzi, Tegwyn Brickhouse, Erica Caffrey, et al.
Date: 2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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#RuralHealthChat: Addressing Health Literacy in Rural America
#RuralHealthChat discusses health literacy in rural America. Explores barriers to health literacy and strategies for improving health literacy in rural communities. Features experts from the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health, NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis, National Rural Health Association, and the American Hospital Association, among others.
Date: 11/2022
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Closing The Gap: Public Libraries & Public Health
Recording of a webinar discussing the collaboration between libraries and public health. Explores public library health programming related to medical librarians, health literacy, and opportunities to support community healthcare and human service needs. Includes information specific to rural communities.
Additional links: Presentation Slides
Date: 09/2022
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Kansas Department of Health and Environment
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The Targeted Rural Health Education Project: Newspaper/Medical Student Collaboration Bringing Health Information to Rural Communities
Video highlighting the Targeted Rural Health Education (TRHE) program, which helps medical students at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences bring plain language health education to the communities they serve.
Date: 06/2022
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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