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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Research methods and resources

Engaging Communities Through Issues Forums: A How-To Guide for Onsite and Online Community Engagement
Offers guidance on community forums as a technical education tool, including information on planning and hosting a forum, strategies for engaging communities, and resources to support committees and stakeholders. Features examples from forums on farm vitality, farmer mental health, and family health. Requires email registration to view the guide as a flipbook, with a PDF download option at the bottom of the screen.
Author(s): Maria Pippidis, Bonnie Braun, Jessie Ketterman, Shoshanah Inwood, Nicole Wright
Date: 03/2022
Sponsoring organization: Cooperative Extension Service
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Navajo Philosophies and Worldviews Shape Focus Groups on the Impacts of a Mine Spill
Describes collaborative research that incorporated Navajo philosophy and worldviews into focus group examinations of the Gold King Mine spill of 2015, which impacted a river that flows through the Navajo Nation. Discusses the project's development, building community buy-in, and examining socio-cultural impacts of the disaster.
Date: 01/2022
Sponsoring organizations: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health
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Population Denominator Data Sources and Data for Use with HCUP Databases (Updated with 2021 Population Data)
Identifies sources of population data that can be used with Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) databases to calculate rates of hospital care events per population. Includes rural-urban population data sources. Appendix A, Tables A.6 and A.7 provide U.S. population figures from 2000 through 2021 for a 4-category urban-rural definition and a 6-category urban-rural definition.
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
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Accelerating the Use of Findings from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research in Clinical Practice to Improve Health and Health Care
Offers an overview of presentations and discussion from a workshop series on patient-centered outcomes research. Topics include research methods and implementation, collaboration to support health equity, research sustainability, disseminating findings, and informing evidence-based policy making.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Board on Health Care Services
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Innovation in Cancer Care and Cancer Research in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Proceedings of a Workshop
Shares insights from a virtual workshop that looked at short- and long-term adjustments to cancer care delivery and cancer research during the pandemic. Includes information on rural and tribal cancer care access. Discusses telehealth for cancer care, both during the pandemic and as a tool to improve access to care going forward.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): National Cancer Policy Forum
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Traumatic Brain Injury: A Roadmap for Accelerating Progress
Provides an overview of traumatic brain injury (TBI) research. Offers recommendations to accelerate research progress and improve TBI care. Chapter 3 includes a section on TBI outcomes and access to care in rural compared to urban areas.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Committee on Accelerating Progress in Traumatic Brain Injury Research and Care
Date: 2022
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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A Cross-Sectional Survey of Potential Factors, Motivations, and Barriers Influencing Research Participation and Retention Among People Who Use Drugs in the Rural USA
Study examining research participation and retention among rural people who use drugs (PWUD) based on surveys of 255 research cohort members from Oregon, Kentucky, and Ohio. Examines participant demographics, drug use history, factors influencing research participation, and barriers and motivators related to research retention.
Author(s): Angela T. Hetrick, April M. Young, Miriam R. Elman, et al.
Citation: Trials, 22, 948
Date: 12/2021
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Growing Rural Outreach through Veteran Engagement (GROVE)
Describes the Center for Growing Rural Outreach through Veteran Engagement (GROVE) program, which develops capacity and resources for Veterans Affairs researchers and staff to be more inclusive of rural Veteran populations. GROVE also serves as a resource center to support projects interested in including veteran engagement in their methods and promotes veteran engagement in Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D) via the HSR&D Veteran Engagement Workgroup, at the Center of Innovation level, and by incorporating Veteran engagement methods in their own HSR&D-funded research.
Date: 12/2021
Sponsoring organization: VA Health Systems Research, Office of Research & Development
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A Randomized Controlled Trial of Self-Management for People with Epilepsy and a History of Negative Health Events (SMART) Targeting Rural and Underserved People with Epilepsy: A Methodologic Report
Discusses a study design that plans to examine the effectiveness of a remotely delivered, 12-week self-management program (SMART) for rural people living with epilepsy (PLWE). Focuses on implementing the intervention in the rural Midwest and providing feedback on SMART, recruitment and retention, and intervention delivery.
Author(s): Gena R. Ghearing, Farren Briggs, Kristin Cassidy, et al.
Citation: Trials, 22, 821
Date: 11/2021
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Examining Child Maltreatment Reports Using Linked County-Level Data
Report examining the insights that county-level data can provide on child maltreatment based on various national sources, including the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), the U.S. Census, and others. Investigates rural-specific data and rural/nonrural comparisons in associations between risk factors, report rates, child poverty, and child maltreatment.
Author(s): Brenda Smith, Qingyi Li, Kun Wang
Date: 11/2021
Sponsoring organizations: Mathematica, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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