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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Behavioral health

Family Weight Management in Rural U.S. Communities: A Mixed Methods Study of Parent and Child Perspectives
Examines interest in behavioral health programming to treat childhood obesity, utilizing focus group excerpts and survey data from 33 parents and 15 children in rural Southern counties. Highlights concerns, suggestions, and desired outcomes for program implementation.
Author(s): Alyssa Button, Denise Holston, Jamila Freightman, et al.
Citation: BMC Public Health, 25, 2089
Date: 06/2025
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Economic Factors Associated With County-Level Mental Health – United States, 2019
Explores the correlation between economic factors, such as household income, education, and supplemental income and nutritional support, and county-level mental health. Breaks down economic factors, such as employment, income and wealth, and expenses by rural and urban location.
Author(s): Michele L.F. Bolduc, Parya Saberi, Torsten B. Neilands, et al.
Citation: PLoS One, 20(6), e0300939
Date: 06/2025
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The Opioid Epidemic in Rural Communities: Can Telehealth Increase Access to Medication for Opioid Use Disorder and Offset Barriers to Care?
Examines the impact of telehealth on access to medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and substance and opioid use disorder (SUD/OUD) treatment. Utilizes data from the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program's (RCORP) consortia, the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), and the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) to analyze access to MOUD and rates of telehealth use for rural consortia. Discusses potential barriers and factors impacting telehealth implementation for SUD/OUD care.
Author(s): Kathleen Meyers, Shannon Herman, Heather Schuler, et al.
Citation: Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 271, 112628
Date: 06/2025
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Supporting Community Mental Health in Libraries: A Toolkit for Implementing Evidence-Based Approaches
Toolkit designed to help librarians identify and implement mental health supports within libraries to support their community members' mental well-being. Builds on findings from an implementation evaluation of from Libraries for Health (L4H), a pilot program that embedded nonclinical adult mental health supports into ten libraries in rural Texas.
Author(s): Amy L. Shearer, Ivy Todd, Karen Christianson, et al.
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
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North Carolina Health Professional Shortage Area: 2024 Profile
Fact sheet on Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) in North Carolina, covering primary, mental health, and dental HPSAs. Includes county-level maps showing population and geographic HPSA score ranges, and indicates counties that contain at least one HPSA facility.
Date: 06/2025
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Office of Rural Health
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Practical Ways to Implement The 2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain among American Indian and Alaska Native Patients
Report presents strategies for adapting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2022 opioid prescribing guidelines for application in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. Discusses methods for clinicians to speak with AI/AN patients about pain and the options available to them.
Author(s): Myra Parker, Kase Cragg, Jacob Fong-Gurzinsky, et al.
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: Seven Directions - A Center for Indigenous Public Health
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Suicide Prevention in Tennessee: 2025 Annual Report
Summarizes suicide surveillance and programmatic data collected by the Tennessee Department of Health. Identifies strategies and best practices for the prevention of deaths by suicide. Features statistics including rates of suicide among residents of rural and urban Tennessee counties in 2023.
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: Tennessee Department of Health
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Impact of Telemental Health on Suicide Prevention Care in U.S. Emergency Departments
Describes results of a survey of 977 hospital emergency departments regarding the use of telemental healthcare, and presents data by hospital characteristics, including rural location and Critical Access Hospital (CAH) status. Explores whether access to telemental healthcare affects use of six recommended suicide prevention practices. Compares the use of suicide prevention practices among patients with identified suicide risk by telemental healthcare status and CAH designation.
Author(s): Stephanie K. Doupnik, Cadence F. Bowden, Diana Worsley, et al.
Citation: Academic Emergency Medicine, 32(9), 956-965
Date: 05/2025
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Traffic Safety Facts, 2023 Data: Alcohol-Impaired Driving
National data on traffic crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers. Features statistics with breakdowns including road conditions, month, time of day, state, and rural or urban location.
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
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America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2025
Provides a national and state-by-state overview of population health for older adults across 55 measures using data from 24 unique data sources. Covers social and economic factors, physical environment, clinical care, behaviors, and health outcomes. Highlights health disparities, including rural-urban disparities, across five categories of health. Includes state-by-state summaries and county-level maps for risk of social isolation by state.
Additional links: Executive Brief, Risk of Social Isolation County-Level Maps, State Summaries
Date: 05/2025
Sponsoring organization: United Health Foundation
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