Conducting Rural Health Research, Needs Assessments, and Program Evaluations – Resources

Hearing Norton Sound: Community Involvement in the Design of a Mixed Methods Community Randomized Trial in 15 Alaska Native Communities
Describes a community-based research project examining a telemedicine cell-phone based screening process to improve early detection and treatment of childhood hearing loss in rural Alaska. Community stakeholders assisted in shaping the research question, measurable outcomes, and project procedures. Serves as a model for community-based research in rural communities.
Author(s): Samantha Kleindienst Robler, S. Meade Inglis, Joseph J. Gallo, et al.
Citation: Research Involvement and Engagement, 6(67)
Date: 11/2020
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Recruitment Best Practices of a Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Randomised Control Trial in Rural Alaska Native Communities
Describes the research methods of the Healthy and Empowering Alaskan Lives Towards Healthy Hearts (HEALTHH) project, which recruited participants from the 16 communities that make up the rural Norton Sound region of Alaska to study smoking behavior and chronic disease prevention efforts among Alaska Native populations. Explores special considerations for research involving remote tribal communities and analyzes data related to recruitment best practices, staffing issues, and barriers to enrolling study participants.
Author(s): Mariah Knox, Jordan Skan, Neal L. Benowitz, Matthew Schnellbaecher, Judith J. Prochaska
Citation: International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 79(1), 1806639
Date: 08/2020
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National Hospital Care Survey Demonstration Projects: Opioid-Involved Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths
Demonstrates a method for linking three data sets to examine opioid-involved emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and mortality. Reported results are not nationally representative. Includes analysis of opioid-involved and nonopioid-involved ED-only visits for rural and urban areas.
Author(s): Merianne Rose Spencer, Lee Anne Flagg, Geoff Jackson, Carol DeFrances, Holly Hedegaard
Date: 06/2020
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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Use of Small-Area Estimates to Describe County-Level Geographic Variation in Prevalence of Extreme Obesity among US Adults
Study examining the variability in prevalence of extreme obesity at the county level, using small-area estimation to pinpoint specific areas of high and low prevalence. Uses data from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and the U.S. Census Bureau to create county-level estimates for adults over 18 years of age. Discusses contrasting pictures of extreme obesity at a broad state level and at the county level, highlighting ranges of prevalence in select states and noting some areas of rural prevalence.
Author(s): Carrie W. Mills, Glen Johnson, Terry T. K. Huang, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 3(5), e204289
Date: 05/2020
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In Search of "Good" Rural Data: Measuring Rural Prosperity
Discusses the availability of data on rural communities, including economic, health, demographic, and geographic data, and issues that make rural data collection and reporting difficult. Compares 22 datasets, exploring what makes data collection difficult and what makes specific datasets challenging to work with. Addresses methods of locating good information in existing datasets, as well as steps toward improving data access.
Author(s): Corianne Payton Scally, Eric Burnstein, Matthew Gerken, Evelyn Immonen
Date: 04/2020
Sponsoring organizations: Aspen Institute, Housing Assistance Council, Urban Institute
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Including Rural Populations in Research
Presents a video discussing the importance of researchers to include rural populations and rural programs in their healthcare research in order to achieve health equity and eliminate health disparities. Captions available in video player.
Author(s): Kristine Sande
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organization: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
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Using Data to Define Rural Populations
Offers a step-by-step guide for developing a rural community baseline dataset, and identifies links to helpful resources and existing datasets, with the intent to help State Offices of Rural Health (SORH) focus on the demographics influencing health and the health needs of the rural communities within their state.
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organization: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
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Ten-Year Reflections on the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
Discussion of how data, evidence, guidance, and examples used in County Health Rankings & Roadmaps publications from January 2009 - January 2019 have helped communities improve the conditions in which their residents live. Examines how the methodology has changed over time, and includes a section on how the researchers adapted their methods so as to appropriately analyze data from rural areas with small populations.
Author(s): Bridget Booske Catlin, Willems Van Dijk
Date: 2020
Sponsoring organizations: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute
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Challenges of Using Nationally Representative, Population-Based Surveys to Assess Rural Cancer Disparities
Examines research methods in studies of rural cancer-related health behaviors and disparities, exploring the definition of "rural" in population-based national surveys, complications for rural cancer studies, and possible solutions to improve survey accuracy. Discusses prominent data sources, including the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS), and the National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), and examines use of these data sources in 68 published studies.
Author(s): Whitney E. Zahnd, Natoshia Askelson, Robin C. Vanderpool, et al.
Citation: Preventive Medicine, 129(Supplement), 105812
Date: 12/2019
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Development, Acceptability, Appropriateness and Appeal of a Cancer Clinical Trials Implementation Intervention for Rural- and Minority-Serving Urology Practices
Describes an implementation intervention for urologists in rural and minority serving community practices to increase their participation in clinical trials supporting the development of new cancer therapies. Compares the acceptability of the intervention among a diverse group of urology practices in the South and Midwest United States.
Author(s): Shellie Ellis, Mugur Geana, Tomas Griebling, et al.
Citation: Trials, 20(1), 578
Date: 10/2019
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