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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Social determinants of health

Watered Down Justice
Report focuses on water quality standards, violations, and potential solutions, specifically for social and economic minority populations. Features county-level maps showing the intersection of various drinking water violations and length of violations with racial, ethnic, and language vulnerability.
Author(s): Kristi Pullen Fedinick, Steve Taylor, Michele Roberts
Date: 09/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Coming Clean, Environmental Justice Health Alliance, Natural Resources Defense Council
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Child Poverty Declines Slightly in 2018 to 18 Percent
Brief summary of child poverty rates. Includes a line chart showing the percent of children in poverty from 2007 through 2018 for city, suburban, and rural places.
Author(s): Jessica A. Carson
Date: 09/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Carsey School of Public Policy
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A New Portrait of Rural America
Examines nine different types of rural counties: the African American South, aging farmlands, evangelical hubs, graying America, Hispanic centers, LDS enclaves, Native American lands, rural middle America, and working class country. Reports on factors impacting rural communities overall and by county type, including health insurance coverage and health status as well as demographic and socioeconomic factors. Includes county-level data for all counties and features on individual counties for each county type.
Additional links: Interactive: Explore Rural America's Diversity, Report, Resources: Community Type Maps and Data, Videos: Rural Report Findings and Discussion With Community Leaders
Date: 09/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Communities Project
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Toolkit: State Strategies to Support Older Adults Aging in Place in Rural Areas
Describes state initiatives helping older rural adults age in place by supporting services allowing them to remain in their homes. Strategies are focused around building the workforce, increasing access to services in rural areas, and addressing social determinants of health. Includes examples of programs that have already been implemented as well as emerging ideas from several states across the country.
Author(s): Neva Kaye, Kristina Long
Date: 09/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Health Resources and Services Administration, National Academy for State Health Policy, National Organizations of State and Local Officials
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Greater Good Podcasts Rural Health Segment, Part 1: How Did We Get Here? Rural Health Challenges in America
Set of three podcast episodes featuring Erika Ziller and Yvonne Jonk of the Maine Rural Health Research Center discussing current rural health issues and challenges, as well as historical factors related to the current rural health system. Addresses rural aging and long-term care, dental care, health insurance coverage, and health-related impacts of growing up in a rural community. Also compares rural health in Maine, other parts of the U.S., and rural communities in other countries.
Additional links: Part 2: Growing Up Rural, Part 3: Rural Health in Maine and America vs. the World
Author(s): Carrie Wilshusen, Erika Ziller, Yvonne Jonk
Date: 09/2019
Type: Audio
Sponsoring organization: University of Maine Graduate and Professional Center
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The Impact of Geographic Isolation on Mental Disability in the United States
Examines the association between geographic isolation and mental disability using the 2000 decennial census and supplementary county-level data from other sources. Analyzes factors including social isolation, socioeconomic status, and income inequality. Discusses theoretical explanations for the relationship between isolation and mental disability, and summarizes other factors which were not modeled in the study but which may be associated with poor mental health outcomes in rural areas.
Author(s): Christopher G. Hudson, Nathan J. Doogan
Citation: SSM - Population Health, 8, 100437
Date: 08/2019
Type: Document
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Home Equity: A Vision of Housing Security, Health and Opportunity
Provides data demonstrating the interrelationship between housing insecurity and health equity. Examines how policies and racism have impacted housing stability in Colorado's rural, urban, and suburban communities. Looks at the challenges to housing security faced by communities of color, undocumented immigrants, people with disabilities, families with children, low income households, rural communities, and homelessness populations. Suggests housing policies that may impact communities and improve housing security.
Date: 08/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Colorado Health Institute
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Medicaid: Efforts to Identify, Predict, or Manage High-Expenditure Beneficiaries
Describes strategies used in 7 states to manage beneficiaries' healthcare costs while ensuring quality care, and lists resources the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provides to help states identify, predict, and manage high-expenditure beneficiaries. Discusses effects of social determinants of health and staff shortages in rural areas. Includes statistics for Medicaid expenditures among beneficiaries enrolled only in Medicaid, for fiscal years 2009-2011.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 08/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Advancing Health Equity and Access Using Telemedicine: A Geospatial Assessment
Highlights a study on the effectiveness of a virtual urgent care (VUC) program in expanding healthcare access and addressing health equity in rural populations in North Carolina. Compares rural versus urban areas and breaks down data by rates of poverty, Medicare and Medicaid enrollment, and broadband access, among other measures.
Author(s): Saif Khairat, Timothy Haithcoat, Songzi Liu, et al.
Citation: Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 26(8-9), 796–805
Date: 08/2019
Type: Document
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Adverse Childhood Experiences of Urban and Rural Preschool Children in Poverty
Examines the interaction of race and geographic location on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) for preschool children living in poverty in Arkansas. Data was collected using the Family Map Inventory–Early Childhood (FMI-EC) tool of structured interviews and observation items for assessing family and home environment characteristics linked with children's well-being.
Author(s): Leanne Whiteside-Mansell, Lorraine McKelvey, Jennifer Saccente, James P. Selig
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(14), 2623
Date: 07/2019
Type: Document
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