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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Stigma

Buprenorphine Dispensing in an Epicenter of the U.S. Opioid Epidemic: A Case Study of the Rural Risk Environment in Appalachian Kentucky
Explores buprenorphine dispensing practices among pharmacists in rural, Appalachian Kentucky, highlighting issues related to buprenorphine dispensing hesitancy. Identifies themes from interviews with 14 pharmacists operating in 12 rural, Appalachian Kentucky counties and discusses dispensing risk environment. Reviews factors influencing hesitancy, including national and state-level drug policy, stigma, and continuing impacts of the opioid epidemic.
Author(s): Hannah LF Cooper, David H. Cloud, Patricia R. Freeman, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Drug Policy, 85, 102701
Date: 11/2020
Type: Document
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Louisiana Primary Care Needs Assessment: Closing the Gap on Healthcare Disparities and Workforce Shortages
Identifies unmet needs and disparities in health outcomes in Louisiana, explores health workforce concerns, and discusses barriers to accessing healthcare. Includes a section on Health Professional Shortage Areas and mentions rural throughout.
Author(s): Hayley Alexander, Barrie Black, Nicole Coarsey, Kimberly Brent
Date: 09/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Well-Ahead Louisiana
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Small Rural Hospital Transition (SRHT) Project Behavioral Health Care Coordination Summit: Summit Findings
Summarizes the findings from a two-day summit on the role of rural hospitals in addressing behavioral health as part of a community-wide initiative. Identifies barriers to behavioral health care coordination in rural areas. Describes four areas of opportunity to advance care coordination. Includes resources for each area of opportunity identified.
Author(s): Amy Harding
Date: 08/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Advocates for Human Potential, National Rural Health Resource Center
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The State of Rural Public Health: Enduring Needs in a New Decade
Examines changes in rural/urban disparities over a 40-year period, including differences in life expectancy, social determinants of health, challenges facing local health departments (LHDs), and more. Discusses factors contributing to disparities and provides recommendations to support LHDs and improve public health in rural communities. Supplement contains figures depicting county-level data on life expectancy at birth as well as rural/urban differences in spending at LHDs and transfers to local governments.
Additional links: Supplement
Author(s): Jonathon Leider, Michael Meit, J. Mac McCullough, et al.
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 110(9), 1283-1290
Date: 08/2020
Type: Document
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Alcohol Use Disorder: Addressing Stigma and Treatment Access in Rural America
Examines alcohol use and misuse in rural America. Features the work of healthcare providers in Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico. Discusses stigma, treatment access, and recovery. Addresses the impact of COVID-19 on treatment access, including the use of telehealth.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 08/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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The Poverty Narrative: Understanding Disadvantage in Rural, Urban, and Suburban Places
Part of a virtual series focused on examining poverty as well as practices and factors that influence poverty in rural, urban, and suburban settings. Discusses how journalists should consider historical context when reporting on poverty-related disparities. Transcript available below the description.
Date: 06/2020
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan
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Revealing Rural Realities: What Fuels Inaccurate and Incomplete Coverage of Rural Issues?
Report discussing the representation and misrepresentation of rural issues and prosperity in national and regional news media and journalism. Offers recommendations to journalists based on interviews in 2019 with rural experts, activists, and journalists, and a media scan to analyze coverage of rural America in national and regional news. Identifies rural healthcare as a common topic of coverage, noting media emphasis on negative aspects of rural life including hospital closures, health disparities, and suicide.
Date: 05/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Aspen Institute, Center for Rural Strategies, Hattaway Communications, Rural Housing Assistance Council
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HIV Prevention and Treatment Challenges in Rural America
Provides an overview of the prevalence of HIV and access to HIV prevention and treatment services in rural communities. Discusses challenges to providing and accessing HIV prevention and treatment efforts in rural areas, including the lack of local healthcare services, the cost of care, and HIV-related stigma. Describes federal programs that support HIV prevention and treatment services in rural areas. Offers policy recommendations to address these barriers and to reduce rural HIV disparities.
Date: 05/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services
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HIV and American Indians and Alaska Natives
Offers data and statistics on HIV diagnoses among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). Lists current challenges to HIV prevention, including cultural stigma and confidentiality concerns that could prevent AI/AN gay and bisexual men from obtaining education and HIV testing, especially in rural communities or on reservations. Presents an overview of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's HIV prevention efforts.
Date: 05/2020
Type: Website
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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"Meet People Where They Are": A Qualitative Study of Community Barriers and Facilitators to HIV Testing and HIV Self-Testing among African Americans in Urban and Rural Areas in North Carolina
Summarizes community-based strategies to increase testing among African Americans in both urban and rural areas of North Carolina. Identifies concerns over confidentiality, negative treatment by healthcare workers, and lack of support regarding self-testing kits. Discusses strategies such as decentralizing HIV testing, particularly in rural areas.
Author(s): Allison Mathews, Samantha Farley, Donaldson F. Conserve, et al.
Citation: BMC Public Health, 20(494)
Date: 04/2020
Type: Document
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