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Rural Mental Health – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Rural Mental Health.

Barriers to Mental Health Care: Improving Provider Directory Accuracy to Reduce the Prevalence of Ghost Networks
Recording of a May 3, 2023, hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance regarding inaccurate healthcare provider directories that impede access to mental healthcare. Features testimony from Robert L. Trestman, Professor and Chair of Behavioral Medicine at the Carilion Clinic and Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, on access to care in rural Virginia.
Additional links: Robert L. Trestman, American Psychiatric Association - Testimony
Date: 05/2023
Sponsoring organization: Senate Committee on Finance
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Challenges and Solutions for Disaster Behavioral Health in Rural and Remote Communities
Describes the scope and diversity of rural and remote populations across the nation, highlighting sources of strength and struggle, including the effects of stigma, for rural Americans and rural healthcare providers. Explores potential approaches to disaster behavioral health in rural and remote areas, including governmental and policy approaches, community-based approaches, and telemedicine.
Date: 04/2023
Sponsoring organization: SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center
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The Rural Behavioral Health Crisis Continuum: Considerations and Emerging State Strategies
Presents examples of state strategies for bolstering the rural behavioral health crisis care continuum at each level of care.
Author(s): Miriam Pearsall, Sandra Wilkniss
Date: 04/2023
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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The State Perspective on Rural Behavioral Health Crisis Services
Provides an overview of a 12-month State Policy Academy on Rural Mental Health Crisis Services to help 5 states - Montana, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin - work to improve rural behavioral health crisis services. Summarizes lessons learned, successes, and next steps. Covers data-informed strategies, cross-state and stakeholder partnerships, financing and funding approaches, the behavioral health workforce, and telehealth.
Author(s): Miriam Pearsall, Sandra Wilkniss
Date: 04/2023
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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American Indian and Alaskan Native Maternal Mental Health
Report discusses the rates of maternal mental health conditions experienced by American Indian and Alaska Native women. Highlights correlations and contributing factors driving mental health disparities among native mothers.
Date: 03/2023
Sponsoring organization: Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health
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Rural US Residents Recognize Anxiety Better than Urbanites and Suburbanites but Hold Similar Stigma
Surveys 627 adults to find whether rural adults are more likely to recognize anxiety symptoms when compared with nonrural adults. Also examines stigma regarding anxiety and compares results between both rural and nonrural adults and level of access to mental health services. Data is broken down by multiple variables including sex, age, household income, education, rurality, and more.
Author(s): Scott Loveridge, Mark Skidmore, Robert Shupp, et al.
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 39(4), 860-869
Date: 03/2023
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Rates of Primary Care and Integrated Mental Health Telemedicine Visits Between Rural and Urban Veterans Affairs Beneficiaries Before and After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Shares the results of a study examining changes over time in rural-urban differences in telemedicine use for primary care and mental health integration services among Veterans Affairs (VA) beneficiaries. Uses data from 138 VA healthcare systems from March 2019 to December 2021. Features demographics and statistics with breakdowns by visit type and rural or urban area.
Author(s): Lucinda B. Leung, Caroline Yoo, Karen Chu, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 6(3)
Date: 03/2023
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Availability of Behavioral Health Providers and Services in Rural Areas, with Holly Andrilla
An episode of the Exploring Rural Health podcast featuring Holly Andrilla, Deputy Director of the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center. Focuses on rural availability of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, social workers, and counselors, as well as recent developments in access to medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD).
Date: 03/2023
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Emergency Department Visits Related to Mental Health Disorders Among Adults, by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity: United States, 2018–2020
Report explores the rates of mental health-related visits to emergency departments (EDs) by race and Hispanic ethnicity. Breaks down data by race, mental health disorder, and urbanization level, among other measures.
Author(s): Zachary J. Peters, Loredana Santo, Danielle Davis, Carol J. DeFrances
Date: 03/2023
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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Urban–Rural Disparities in Deaths of Despair: A County-Level Analysis 2004–2016 in the U.S.
Presents a study exploring the rural-urban differences in drug, alcohol, and suicide mortality rates across the country from 2004 to 2016. Breaks down data by demographic factors, such as sex, employment, and health insurance, among other measures.
Author(s): Jong Hyung Lee, David C. Wheeler, Emily B. Zimmerman, et al.
Citation: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 64(2), 149-156
Date: 02/2023
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