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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Behavioral health

Arizona Health Improvement Plan Summary Document 2024-2025 Update
Describes state efforts to address health priorities in Arizona, including health equity, social determinants of health, mental well-being, and rural and urban underserved health. Highlights strategies to improve public health in each identified area.
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Arizona Department of Health Services
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Gestational Weight Gain Among Urban and Rural Pregnant Individuals Who Smoke or Quit Smoking
Examines the relationship between smoking cessation and gestational weight gain (GWG). Utilizes 2009-2020 Virginia Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data to analyze GWG and smoking in rural versus urban pregnant women.
Author(s): Kinsey Pebley, Asal Pilehvari, Rebecca A Krukowski, Melissa A Little
Citation: American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 66(5), 888-893
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
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Effectiveness of Syringe Services Programs
Presents a literature review of the studies evaluating SSP interventions across the country. Report aims to evaluate the overall efficacy of SSPs at reducing the transmission of HIV/HCV. Four of the 100 studies were conducted in completely rural settings, and 5 were conducted in both rural and urban settings. Makes recommendations for VA policy makers.
Additional links: Appendices, Executive Summary
Author(s): Katherine M. Mackey, Erin H. Beech, Beth E. Williams, et al.
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: VA Health Services Research & Development Service
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Annual Report on the New Hampshire Health Care Workforce and Data Collection: Calendar Year 2023
Includes aggregate data and information on current and projected New Hampshire primary workforce needs and the participation rate on surveys completed by clinicians for the Health Professions Data Center. Features a state map showing rural and nonrural New Hampshire regional public health networks, and statistics on demographics, barriers to care, substance use and mental health, and maternal health. Includes license renewal data for various providers types, and workforce data on physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, and physician assistants, including percentage in rural regions.
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, New Hampshire Rural Health & Primary Care
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Pre-Implementation Adaptation of Suicide Safety Planning Intervention Using Peer Support in Rural Areas
Using a community-based participatory research process, study aimed to identify adaptable components of a veteran-focused suicide intervention as well as barriers and facilitators for implementation in rural Arkansas using peer support. Includes discussion of the benefits of community input early in the research process.
Author(s): Eva N. Woodward, Amanda Lunsford, Rae Brown, et al.
Citation: Frontiers in Health Services, 3
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
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Rural and Nonrural Racial Variation in Mentally Unhealthy Days: Findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System in North Carolina, 2015–2019
Compares rates at which rural and nonrural Black and White North Carolinians experience days with stress, depression, and problems with emotions, utilizing 2015-2019 North Carolina Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data. Discusses social factors which may influence racial mental health disparities in rural areas.
Author(s): Caroline R. Efird, Derrick D. Matthews, Kathryn E. Muessig, et al.
Citation: SSM - Mental Health, 3, 100199
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
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Policy Solutions Addressing Psychiatric Boarding of Rural Youth
Policy position paper regarding psychiatric boarding - holding patients in an emergency department after the decision to admit or transfer has been made, but no beds are available - of rural children and adolescents. Describes recent trends in pediatric psychiatric boarding in rural areas. Offers policy recommendations to reduce boarding times and improve mental health outcomes in rural communities.
Author(s): Amah Riley, Jonathan Updike, Lauren Wood
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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A Community-Engaged Approach to Understanding Suicide in a Small Rural County in Georgia: A Two-Phase Content Analysis of Individual and Focus Group Interviews
Evaluates the need for suicide prevention and appropriateness of prevention efforts in a rural Georgia county by presenting analysis of 20 individual interviews and 2 focus groups conducted August 2021-June 2022. Covers individual and community contextual drivers of suicide, facilitators and barriers of medical and social support access, linkage gaps in mental health care services, and community response. Discusses schools, a military base, nonprofit and religious organizations, and other institutional supports for suicide prevention.
Author(s): Kimberly Beth Roth, Eleni Gaveras, Fatima Ghiathi, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(24), 7145
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
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Use of Primary Care and Emergency Departments for Substance Use Treatment: The Rural and Urban Divide
Explores the use of primary care and emergency departments for substance use treatment in rural and urban areas. Draws from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from 2015-2019 and breaks down data by age, race, and rurality, among other measures.
Author(s): Nathaniel Albright, Christina Dyar, Ethan Morgan
Citation: Substance Use & Misuse, 59(2), 300-305
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
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Changes in Perceptions of First Responders after Witnessing a Drug Overdose: Individual and Contextual Variations among People Who Use Opioids in West Virginia
Evaluates changes in attitude toward first responders among people who witnessed an overdose and stayed until first responders arrived. Utilizes interview data from 50 nonmedical users of prescription opioids from 3 rural Appalachian West Virginia counties. Identifies personal and contextual factors associated with changed perceptions of first responders.
Author(s): Kathleen L. Egan, Kelly Gurka, Alexandria Macmadu, Herb Linn
Citation: Journal of Appalachian Health, 5(3), 22-37
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
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