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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Community engagement and volunteerism

Saving the Last Grocery Store
Describes how a rural Colorado community re-opened its only grocery store as a co-op, after a severe blizzard that cut off the town for days made the need for a local store apparent to residents. Discusses the challenges facing rural grocery stores.
Author(s): Lorraine Armstrong
Citation: Rural Cooperatives, 84(3), 12-15
Date: 2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: USDA Rural Development
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Examining the Role of a Community Coalition in Facilitating Policy and Environmental Changes to Promote Physical Activity: The Case of Get Fit Kaua'i
Examines Get Fit Kauai, a community coalition that brought changes in built environment (BE) policies and infrastructure changes to rural Hawaii. Describes how the community coalition developed a theory to explain the process of the community coalition facilitating BE change to support physical activity.
Author(s): Lehua B. Choy, Jay E. Maddock, Beverley Brody, Katherine L. Richards, Kathryn L. Braun
Citation: Translational Behavioral Medicine, 6(4), 638-647
Date: 12/2016
Type: Document
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Addressing the Social Determinants of Health: The Role of Health Professions Education: Thirteenth Annual Report to the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Congress of the United States
Includes recommendations for redesign of health professional training to meet needs of an aging and diverse population, to become more team-based and interprofessional, and to prepare students to serve in rural and underserved communities.
Date: 12/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry
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Union General Hospital "It's a Girl Thing: Making Proud Choices"
Outlines Union General Hospital's "It's a Girl Thing: Making Proud Choices" program, which seeks to curb sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy in Farmerville, Louisiana. The program focuses on educating high school girls on topics such as self-esteem, dating and violence, finances, the consequences of teen pregnancy, and more. Also includes a brief discussion with one of the program developers.
Date: 10/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Resource Center
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Building Capacity in a Rural North Carolina Community to Address Prostate Health Using a Lay Health Advisor Model
Describes the feasibility of using a lay health advisor (LHAs) model to engage patients from a rural African American community in North Carolina about prostate health. LHAs, also called ambassadors, work to share information about prostate health and collect survey data. Includes demographic characteristics of the 15 ambassadors, such as age, gender, education, employment, and previous health education training.
Author(s): Anissa I. Vines, Jaimie C. Hunter, Brandolyn S. White, Alan N. Richmond
Citation: Health Promotion Practice, 17(3), 364-372
Date: 05/2016
Type: Document
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A Quasi-Experimental Study to Mobilize Rural Low-Income Communities to Assess and Improve the Ecological Environment to Prevent Childhood Obesity
Describes a study to be conducted in 14 low-income rural communities in Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, to find best practices to create and sustain healthy eating and physical activity and to prevent childhood obesity.
Author(s): Paula Peters, Abby Gold, Angela Abbott, et al.
Citation: BMC Public Health, 16, 376
Date: 05/2016
Type: Document
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Activating Patients for Sustained Chronic Disease Self-Management: Thinking Beyond Clinical Outcomes
Describes the Expanded Health Coaches for Hypertension Control (EHCHC) project to increase the proportion of adults 45 years and older to self-manage their hypertension. Discusses how a primary care practice and a community-based program can work together to improve patient knowledge and support readiness for behavior change through various channels, including the use of trained volunteer community health coaches.
Author(s): Cheryl J. Dye, Joel E. Williams, Janet H. Evatt
Citation: Journal of Primary Care & Community Health, 7(2), 107-112
Date: 04/2016
Type: Document
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Honoring Unsung Heroes in Communities Across America: Building Connections to Forge Solutions
Details the history of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leaders program, which ran from 1992 until 2015, and recognized grassroots leaders who advanced health in underserved communities.
Author(s): Kelsey Menehan, Mary Nakashian
Date: 04/2016
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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Colorectal Cancer Prevention: Perspectives of Key Players from Social Networks in a Low-Income Rural US Region
Reports on a study based on interviews with "key players" within the social networks of rural Appalachian communities of Kentucky and Ohio. Discusses the role these individuals can play in promoting colorectal cancer (CRC) screenings and identifies the perceived barriers to CRC screenings within their communities.
Author(s): Nancy E. Schoenberg, Kathryn Eddens, Adam Jonas, et al.
Citation: International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 11(1), 30396
Date: 02/2016
Type: Document
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An Ethnographic Meta-Synthesis of Three Southwestern Rural Studies
Summarizes the findings from 3 ethnographic, community-partnered studies in rural Colorado and New Mexico. Describes the process of meta-ethnography as a strategy for synthesizing findings.
Author(s): Jennifer B. Averill
Citation: Public Health Nursing, 33(1), 32-41
Date: 01/2016
Type: Document
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