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Rural Health
Research Gateway

Public health

Completed Projects

Listed by project completion date. You can also view these projects alphabetically.

2024

  • Clinical-Community Linkages in Non-Metropolitan and Metropolitan Hospitals: COVID-19 Impacts and Trends
    This study examined trends in partnerships between hospitals and public health departments and other community linkages in both non-metropolitan and metropolitan hospitals with a particular focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Research center: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Topics: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Health services, Hospitals and clinics, Networking and collaboration, Public health, Social determinants of health

2023

  • A Chartbook of Rural Population Health
    This project created a chartbook of population health for rural areas. This resource was designed to allow policymakers and practitioners to better understand rural-urban disparities across a wide variety of population health indicators.
    Research center: North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
    Topic: Public health
  • Rural Health Access: Affordability and Barriers to Care
    Rural-urban comparisons of healthcare access and affordability predate many policy reform efforts aimed at increasing access and decreasing costs—ongoing concerns of rural families. This study used national health survey data to examine rural-urban differences in access to medical care, access to insurance, and affordability of care.
    Research center: Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Health reform, Health services, Healthcare access, Healthcare financing, Private health insurance, Public health, Social determinants of health

2021

  • Capacity of Rural Counties to Respond to an HIV or Hepatitis C Outbreak
    Rural counties may be potentially vulnerable to an HIV or Hepatitis C outbreak among persons who inject drugs. Using mixed methods, we provided an understanding of the rural areas at risk of an outbreak based on their state and county characteristics and an assessment of their public health infrastructure.
    Research center: Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Healthcare access, Public health, Substance use and treatment

2016

  • Exploring Rural and Urban Mortality Differences
    This project examines the impact of rurality on mortality and explores the regional differences in the primary and underlying causes of death. It also explores the role of the rural public health systems in addressing social determinants of health.
    Research center: North Dakota and NORC Rural Health Reform Policy Research Center
    Topics: Public health, Social determinants of health

2014

  • Examination of Trends in Rural and Urban Health: Establishing a Baseline for Health Reform
    The purpose of this project is to update and supplement the seminal Health, United States, 2001: Urban and Rural Health Chartbook. Resulting information can not only be compared to the 2001 Chartbook but provides a baseline from which to measure future change related to the Accountable Care Act implementation. Where appropriate additional charts are included wherein rural areas are subdivided by type.
    Research center: North Dakota and NORC Rural Health Reform Policy Research Center
    Topics: Health services, Public health

2013

  • Promotion and Protection of Rural Miner Health: Are the Resources in Place?
    Miners are exposed to various potentially harmful agents and dangerous work conditions, and may have difficulty accessing care in some rural settings. The study aims to 1) Locate and map mining communities in the US and rural safety net providers (RHCs, FQHCs and Critical Access Hospitals) in those communities; and 2) Identify environmental health competencies (specifically related to miner health) in rural primary care providers practicing in identified mining communities.
    Research center: West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Environmental and agricultural health, Health services, Public health
  • Recent Rates of Black Lung Disease in Relation to Black Lung Treatment Centers
    Recent evidence indicates that black lung disease among coal miners, after a long period of declining incidence, has begun to increase. This increase is disturbing because safety standards, if adhered to faithfully, should be able to prevent most black lung disease from occurring. The reasons for the increase are not known, although evidence has revealed that the mines most likely to show increases are smaller coal mines located in some areas of central Appalachia, and there are concerns that safety regulations at these smaller mines may not be practiced with complete fidelity.
    Research center: West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
    Topic: Public health
  • Rural H1N1 Experience
    This project aims to describe the rural H1N1 experience, including comparisons of rural vs. urban H1N1 vaccination rates, and describe rural H1N1 incidence, care patterns, and mortality. Additionally, through key stakeholder interviews, we will describe the rural needs in decisions relative to H1N1 vaccine distribution.
    Research center: West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
    Topic: Public health

2012

  • Environmental Workforce Characteristics in the Rural Public Health Sector
    Environmental risks to rural populations are understudied relative to urban areas despite increasing recognition that rural populations are potentially exposed to these risks from agricultural, mining, industrial or other sources. This project analyzes the environmental workforce characteristics of the rural public health sector to inform policy relative to coordination of rural environmental health services.
    Research center: West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Environmental and agricultural health, Public health
  • Water Quality Issues in Rural-Urban Areas: The Good (Fluoridation), the Bad (Chemical Pollutants) and the Ugly (Health Consequences)
    This study will investigate the availability of fluoridated water across urban-rural settings, and relate measures of fluoride availability to survey measures of dental health. The study will also investigate rural population exposure to chemical pollutants in surface water by measuring volumes and types of discharges from EPA-recognized water pollution sources, including sources located in rural areas and in upstream urban areas, and relating these measures to population health outcomes.
    Research center: West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Environmental and agricultural health, Public health

2010

  • Key Environmental Competencies for Rural Primary Care Providers
    This study will develop, from existing single discipline standards, a competency guide that will address competencies that are essential for providing environmentally conscious care. The study will then systematically evaluate content validity, completeness and clarity of the competencies.
    Research center: West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Environmental and agricultural health, Public health

2009

  • Rural Environmental Hazards Inventory and Associated Health Outcomes
    This study will create a national inventory of potential environmental hazards for rural populations. Population health outcomes such as CDC mortality statistics will be examined to determine if poor health outcomes are related to greater exposures to potential hazards.
    Research center: West Virginia Rural Health Research Center
    Topics: Environmental and agricultural health, Health promotion and disease prevention, Public health, Transportation

2008

  • Financing Rural Public Health Activities in Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
    This project describes the federal-state funding streams for selected local public health activities in the area of chronic disease prevention and health promotion, and assesses potential barriers to program implementation in less populated, local areas of a state.
    Research center: NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
    Topics: Chronic diseases and conditions, Health promotion and disease prevention, Healthcare financing, Public health

2007

2006

  • Pharmaceutical Data Validity in Estimating Rural Population Health
    This project will allow for the quantification of variation in morbidity (via prescription use) across rural areas; identify locations that might be at risk for stunted economic development due to high levels of chronic illness in the working population; and potentially lead to the development of a valid and reliable measure of county-level rates of chronic illness using prescription data as a proxy.
    Research center: FORHP-funded Individual Grantees
    Topics: Cancer, Chronic diseases and conditions, Diabetes, Pharmacy and prescription drugs, Public health, Rural statistics and demographics
  • Rural Public Health Department Structure and Infrastructure
    This project is intended to generate hypotheses about the relationship of local public health department structure and infrastructure to performance. Using case studies of 12 rural public health departments in six geographically diverse states, investigators hope to identify elements of local health department (LHD) structure to serve as independent variables for future studies of LHD performance.
    Research center: FORHP-funded Individual Grantees
    Topics: Networking and collaboration, Public health

2004