Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Social determinants of health

The State of Latino Housing, Transportation, and Green Space: A Research Review
Highlights programs and policies that may improve neighborhood health equity in U.S. Latino communities. Discusses Latino migration to rural areas in the South and Midwest and the need for affordable housing and green space policies to promote health and wellbeing.
Date: 05/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Salud America
view details
The Promise of Adolescence: Realizing Opportunity for All Youth
Focuses on the impact of social determinants of health on adolescents. Discusses adolescent development; how the environment affects biology; and how societal factors such as education, healthcare, the child welfare system, and the justice system create disparities. Offers recommendations for each area and includes some discussion of rural disparities in the health system chapter.
Additional links: Read Online, Report Highlights
Date: 05/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
view details
Overcoming Racial Disparities and Social Determinants in the Maternal Mortality Crisis
Provides testimonies and the recording of a hearing before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on disparities in maternal mortality. Discusses disparities by race and geographic location, social determinants of health, challenges in rural access to obstetrics, and potential steps for action. Includes testimony from the American Medical Association, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Maternal Mortality Projects Coordinator at the Virginia Department of Health, and others.
Additional links: Lisa Hollier Testimony, Loren Robinson Testimony, Melanie Rouse Testimony, Patrice Harris Testimony, American Medical Association, Video Recording
Date: 05/2019
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: House Ways and Means Committee
view details
Opportunities to Advance Complex Care in Rural and Frontier Areas
Examines obstacles rural and frontier healthcare organizations face in providing complex care based on interviews with experts around the U.S. Focuses on rural social determinants of health, workforce shortages, and rural community relationships. Includes examples of models related to community collaboration, care coordination, social determinants of health, the health workforce, technology, and payment.
Author(s): Jim Lloyd
Date: 05/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Care Strategies
view details
Influencing Cardiovascular Health Habits in the Rural, Deep South: Results of a Cluster Randomized Trial
Study examining public health interventions through churches to address cardiovascular disease (CVD) among African American adults in the rural South. Describes risk factors for CVD, social determinants of health, and CVD disparities in rural and African American communities. Analyzes sociodemographic and health data for 229 participants in a health promotion study.
Author(s): Laurie S. Abbott, Elizabeth H. Slate, Jennifer L. Lemacks
Citation: Health Education Research, 34(2), 200-208
Date: 04/2019
Type: Document
view details
Health Value and Belief Differences Among Rural Americans
Results of a study to better understand how Americans differ in their beliefs about health at individual, community, and societal levels. Appendix features survey question responses with breakdowns by rural and urban residence.
Additional links: American Health Values Survey: Rural Typology
Author(s): Larry L. Bye, Alyssa Ghirardelli, Angela Fontes, Mike Meit, Kristin Dwan
Date: 04/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
view details
Addressing Rural Workforce Shortages and Healthcare Disparities: An Annotated Bibliography
Report designed to inform policy discussions and future publications concerning healthcare disparities and outcomes, the distribution of physicians in rural areas, and the graduate medical education system financing. Also includes sections on rural hospital closures, social determinants of health, and healthcare safety net facilities. Constructed from a literature review, expert-recommended articles, and a search of white and grey literature.
Author(s): Dara Khatib, Alison Huffstetler, Andrew Bazemore
Date: 02/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Robert Graham Center
view details
Using Upstream Quality Improvement to Address Transportation
Module 5 in a series of video trainings for clinicians on how they can help address the social determinants of health. This segment discusses transportation and addresses rural issues. Includes a case study conversation with Jill Lord, director of community health at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center, a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) in Vermont.
Date: 02/2019
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
view details
Promoting Health and Cost Control in States: How States Can Improve Community Health & Well-Being Through Policy Change
Focuses on how states can support health at a population level through evidence-based policies and collaboration. Covers healthy and affordable housing, how to foster healthy behaviors, promoting healthy living through built environments, economic opportunities, and the connection between health and learning. Summarizes the evidence for each policy recommendation and offers case examples. Addresses rural throughout.
Date: 02/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Trust for America's Health
view details
Neighborhood Disadvantage and Chronic Disease Management
Assesses the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and control of blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol in the Medicare Advantage population. Features demographic statistics with breakdowns by 6 levels of population density.
Author(s): Shayla N.M. Durfey, Amy J.H. Kind, William R. Buckingham, Eva H. DuGoff, Amal N. Trivedi
Citation: Health Services Research, 54(1), Part II, 206-216
Date: 02/2019
Type: Document
view details