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Social Determinants of Health for Rural People – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Social Determinants of Health for Rural People.

Efforts by Critical Access Hospitals to Increase Health Equity Through Greater Engagement with Social Determinants of Health
Examines the ways Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) engage in upstream social determinant of health (SDOH) efforts to improve community health. Analyzes CAH and non-CAH programs that utilize screening, in-house strategies, and external partnerships to address SDOH. Discusses the impacts of SDOH policy on CAHs in rural communities.
Author(s): Bethany Lemont, Neeraj Puro, Berkeley Franz, Cory E. Cronin
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 39(4), 728-736
Date: 06/2023
Type: Document
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Maniilaq Health Center: Providing High-Quality Obstetric Care to American Indian/Alaska Native People in Rural Kotzebue, Alaska
Results of a case study highlighting a hospital providing care to rural American Indian and Alaska Native patients in Alaska. Examines the maternity care context with attention to the intersection of race and geography with social determinants of health to inform clinical and policy efforts to improve rural maternal health and health equity in Alaska and beyond.
Author(s): Hailey A. Baker, Katy Backes Kozhimannil, Bridget Basile Ibrahim
Date: 06/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Chartbook: Geographic Distribution of Children and Child Care and Early Education Providers in 2012 and 2019
Examines supply of child care and early education services compared to demand in rural and urban areas. Includes information on children's participation in center-based care and several types of home-based care.
Date: 05/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Administration for Children and Families
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Persistent Poverty in Counties and Census Tracts
Examines persistent poverty, defined as a community with at least 20% poverty for over 30 years, in U.S. counties and census tracts. Utilizes Census and American Community Survey (ACS) poverty estimates that are compared against other datasets. Includes persistent poverty counties, census tracts, and percentages of the population by state, as well as maps of geographical areas in the U.S. depicting persistent poverty census tracts.
Author(s): Craig Benson, Alemayehu Bishaw, Brian Glassman
Date: 05/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Census Bureau
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Landscape of the Health Informatics Workforce: Rapid Response Brief
Focuses on the clinical informatics and public health, population health, and social service informatics subdomains of the health informatics workforce. Mentions resource hubs that serve rural communities by providing guidelines, toolkits, screening tools, and other resources. Examines social determinants of health and gives examples of clinical informatics work that can improve access to care for rural and underserved populations. Features statistics on physicians certified in clinical informatics from 2013-2022.
Author(s): Cynthia LeRouge, Shahida Shahrir, Bianca K Frogner
Date: 04/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Workforce Studies
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Income and Rural–Urban Status Moderate the Association Between Income Inequality and Life Expectancy in US Census Tracts
Examines how income inequality and life expectancy (LE) are impacted by socioeconomic status (SES) and rural versus urban status at the census-tract level. Utilizes 2010-2015 data to examine the relationship of LE to SES, urbanicity, and other sociodemographic factors. Presents the data through descriptive statistics, figures, and graphs.
Author(s): Steven A. Cohen, Caitlin C. Nash, Erin N. Byrne, Mary L. Greaney
Citation: Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, 42, 24
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
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Integration of Case-Based Dialogue to Enhance Medical Students' Understanding of Using Health Communication to Address Social Determinants of Health
Examines the impact of case-based social determinants of health (SDOH) curriculum on third year medical student knowledge related to SDOH and willingness to care for culturally diverse and underserved patients. Analyzes pre- and post-test survey answers from 640 medical students about their SDOH perceptions and knowledge, including confidence levels in working with rural and medically underserved patients.
Author(s): Jalysa King, Jennifer Taylor
Citation: Advances in Medical Education and Practice,14, 237-244
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
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Crowded Housing and Housing Cost Burden by Disability, Race, Ethnicity, and Rural-Urban Location
Examine rates of crowded housing and housing cost burden, using data from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey. Features statistics on housing characteristics, with breakdowns by race or ethnicity and disability status, and rural or urban location.
Author(s): Alexis Swendener, Katie Rydberg, Mariana Tuttle, Hawking Yam, Carrie Henning-Smith
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Your Neighborhood Matters: An Ecological Social Determinant Study of the Relationship Between Residential Racial Segregation And the Risk of Firearm Fatalities
Examines the impact of county-level social determinants of health (SDOH) on firearm fatalities. Analyzes 802 firearm fatalities that occurred in Wisconsin counties in 2019 and their relationship to SDOH, such as residential racial segregation, income inequality, community resilience, and rural versus urban classification. Includes county-level maps depicting geographic distribution of racial segregation and firearm fatalities per 100,000 people.
Author(s): Abdul R. Shour, Ronald Anguzu, Yuhong Zhou, et al.
Citation: Injury Epidemiology, 10, 14
Date: 03/2023
Type: Document
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Rural Population Health in the United States: A Chartbook
Presents rural population health data by Census region and state, with some data by sex, race, and ethnicity. Includes U.S. maps showing county-level data as well as a variety of charts, including rural-urban disparity charts, state summary charts, and more. Topics addressed include access to care, health outcomes and risks, mortality, social determinants of health, and socioeconomic data.
Author(s): Randy Randolph, Sharita Thomas, Mark Holmes, et al.
Date: 02/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Additional resources are available related to this guide. See the full list of resources by topic for:


Last Updated: 4/23/2024