Rural Schools and Health – Resources

Meeting Students Where They Are: Trauma-Informed Approaches in Rural Schools
Discusses the need for more supports in rural schools to address trauma and mental health concerns. Provides potential models schools can adopt to improve trauma-informed education and close achievement gaps for rural students.
Author(s): Maria Frankland
Citation: The Rural Educator, 42(2), 51-71
Date: 2021
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School Districts Have Expanded Their Nonacademic Services for 2021–2022, While Academic Offerings Remain Much the Same: Selected Findings from the Third American School District Panel Survey
Report highlights the findings of an American School District Panel survey of district leaders on the potential changes to their academic and nonacademic offerings for the 2021-2022 school year. Details information on school-based mental health services and features data on rural school districts.
Additional links: Full Report
Author(s): Heather L. Schwartz, Melissa Kay Diliberti
Date: 2021
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
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Survey of Teen Noise Exposure and Efforts to Protect Hearing at School — United States, 2020
Examines noise exposure among youth 12-17 years of age in a school setting. Reports on frequency of exposure, provision of hearing protection devices, and whether prevention techniques were part of the curriculum. Includes data for metropolitan and nonmetro areas.
Author(s): John Eichwald, Franco Scinicariello
Citation: MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), 69(48), 1822-1826
Date: 12/2020
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Drug Education and Cessation Programs Help Teens Avoid or Quit Vaping
Highlights vaping education programs reaching rural schools in California and Tennessee, as well as a multi-state program helping teens in 18 states quit vaping.
Author(s): Allee Mead
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 06/2020
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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The Implementation of a Culturally Grounded, School-Based, Drug Prevention Curriculum in Rural Hawai'i
Details the development of a school-based drug prevention program for Hawaiian youth. Discusses the development and implementation of the Ho'ouna Pono program curriculum and evaluates the program based on student and teacher experiences, implementation structure and logistics, and standardized testing, among other measures.
Author(s): Scott K. Okamoto, Susana Helm, Steven Keone Chin, et al.
Citation: Journal of Community Psychology, 48(4), 1085-1099
Date: 05/2020
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Finding Innovation and Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Rural Health Organizations Are Adapting Their Program Strategies
Summarizes a series of virtual peer learning sessions in response to COVID-19 for current Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program, Rural Health Network Development, Small Healthcare Provider Quality Improvement, and Delta States Rural Development Network program grantees. Provides an overview of common themes that emerged from the sessions. Discusses the challenges and innovations made to implement rural health and public programs across six areas: community health workers, data collection and evaluation, virtual trainings, peer support services and recovery supports, telehealth utilization, and schools.
Additional links: Adaptive Strategies for Rural Grantees Amid COVID-19: Adjusting Approaches to Data Collection and Utilization, Adaptive Strategies for Rural Grantees Amid COVID-19: Peer Support and Recovery Services in a Virtual Environment, Adaptive Strategies for Rural Grantees Amid COVID-19: Strategies for Supporting Community by Maintaining Work With Schools, Adaptive Strategies for Rural Grantees Amid COVID-19: Taking Community Health Worker Practice Virtual, Adaptive Strategies for Rural Grantees Amid COVID-19: Using Telehealth in New and Improved Ways to Meet Emerging Needs
Author(s): Tanisa Adimu, John Butts, Coleman Tanner, et al.
Date: 05/2020
Sponsoring organization: Georgia Health Policy Center
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School Nurses in U.S. Public Schools
Examines the presence of school nurses during the 2007-08, 2011-12, and 2015-16 school years and the type of school they served, including schools in city, suburban, town, and rural communities.
Date: 04/2020
Sponsoring organization: Institute of Education Sciences
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Making a Difference for Generations to Come: School-Based Oral Healthcare in Louisiana
Features a Louisiana Federally Qualified Health Center that offers primary care oral health assessment and fluoride varnishes in school-based health centers. Discusses the impact that access to childhood oral health services may have into adulthood.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Addressing Obesity in Nebraska's Youth: Water Consumption in Schools
Report details an effort to promote water consumption as a replacement for sugary beverages in order to combat obesity in Nebraska schools. Highlights ways the state has increased access to water fountains and water bottle filling stations. Compares rates of obesity to other states for children and adults.
Author(s): Jon M. Bailey
Date: 01/2020
Sponsoring organization: Center for Rural Affairs
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School Success: An Opportunity for Population Health: Proceedings of a Workshop
Explores how health sector capabilities can be used to improve educational outcomes from pre-school through 12th grade. Includes case studies on flu vaccination as a tool to reduce absenteeism in rural Arkansas and school-based wellness hubs in a rural frontier Oregon county.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
Date: 2020
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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