Preventive health services and screenings are an important component in the continuum of care provided to individuals across all ages. Yet, research has shown that rural residents use fewer preventive health services and screenings and are less likely to adopt healthy behaviors that could prevent high-cost chronic conditions. Given their poorer health status and limited use of preventive care, we anticipate that rural residents will have much to gain from public and private investments in public health. Using the National Health Interview Survey, this study sought to understand whether differences in preventive health services among rural and urban adults can be explained by health status and sociodemographic characteristics.

Publications

• Preventive Health Service Use Among Rural Women
  Policy Brief
  Maine Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 04/2019
  This study used the National Health Interview Survey to examine differences in receipt of preventive health services among rural and urban women. It found that rural women are less likely to receive HPV vaccines and mammograms, even controlling for rural-urban sociodemographic and resource differences.