Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Conducting Rural Health Research, Needs Assessment, and Program Evaluation – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Conducting Rural Health Research, Needs Assessment, and Program Evaluation.

Identifying Disparities in Health Outcomes and Mortality for American Indian and Alaska Native Populations Using Tribally Disaggregated Vital Statistics and Health Survey Data
Study examining disaggregated health surveillance and mortality data for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations, discussing the challenges of data collection related to tribal-national enrollment and racial identification. Addresses health disparities and severe health risks among AI/AN populations and the need for collaboration with tribal nations to obtain accurate data.
Author(s): Desi Small-Rodriguez, Randall Akee
Citation: American Journal of Public Health, 111(S2), S126-132
Date: 07/2021
Type: Document
view details
Exploring the Role of Critical Health Literacy in Addressing the Social Determinants of Health
Brief reporting on a workshop held by the Roundtable on Health Literacy that explored Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and health literacy to serve vulnerable communities. Discusses SDOH models, research methods to engage communities, and critical health literacy. Project examples include work with rural Native American communities.
Author(s): Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
Date: 06/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
view details
State Health Disparities Research in Rural America: Gaps and Future Directions in an Era of COVID-19
Discusses research methods and partnerships to address rural health disparities. Highlights recommendations from a national workshop on rural health disparities, including community participation in rural health research, innovative research design, interventions that are relevant to rural challenges, and cultural competence in rural research.
Author(s): Lisa Cacari Stone, Mary C. Roary, Augusto Diana, Patricia A. Grady
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 37(3), 460-466
Date: 04/2021
Type: Document
view details
Minority Health and Health Disparities Strategic Plan 2021–2025
Planning document presenting goals to address health disparities through scientific research, activities that sustain research, and outreach efforts. Describes health disparity populations, including racial and ethnic minority, rural, less privileged socioeconomic status (SES), and sexual and gender minorities (SGM) populations. Outlines plans to implement research projects and activities, and discusses Leap Forward priority areas that will advance research methods in minority health and health disparities.
Date: 03/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), National Institutes of Health
view details
Preliminary Evaluation of Nonresponse Bias Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic on National Health Interview Survey Estimates, April-June 2020
Examines potential nonresponse bias for the National Health Interview Survey associated with a shift to telephone-only interviewing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Includes data on changes in response rates for metropolitan and nonmetro areas.
Author(s): James M. Dahlhamer, Matthew D. Bramlett, Aaron Maitland, Stephen J. Blumberg
Date: 02/2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
view details
Testing a Coaching Program to Help Adults with Diabetes Living in Rural Alabama Take Their Medicine as Directed
Presents a study of a medication adherence initiative in rural Alabama targeting predominantly African American adults with diabetes. Discusses research methods, community engagement and participation, data drawn from the study, and provides materials from the initiative in the appendix.
Author(s): Lynn J. Andreae, Susan J. Andreae, Andrea L. Cherrington, Joshua S. Richman, Monika M. Safford
Date: 2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
view details
Population Health in Rural America in 2020: Proceedings of a Workshop
Presents the proceedings of the Population Health in Rural America 2020 workshop. Chapters examine rural demographics and social determinants of health, rural health and data challenges, rural and tribal healthcare, community health needs assessment, and rural health policy.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
Date: 2021
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
view details
Hearing Norton Sound: Community Involvement in the Design of a Mixed Methods Community Randomized Trial in 15 Alaska Native Communities
Describes a community-based research project examining a telemedicine cell-phone based screening process to improve early detection and treatment of childhood hearing loss in rural Alaska. Community stakeholders assisted in shaping the research question, measurable outcomes, and project procedures. Serves as a model for community-based research in rural communities.
Author(s): Samantha Kleindienst Robler, S. Meade Inglis, Joseph J. Gallo, et al.
Citation: Research Involvement and Engagement, 6(67)
Date: 11/2020
Type: Document
view details
Recruitment Best Practices of a Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Randomised Control Trial in Rural Alaska Native Communities
Describes the research methods of the Healthy and Empowering Alaskan Lives Towards Healthy Hearts (HEALTHH) project, which recruited Indigenous participants from the 16 communities that make up the rural Norton Sound region of Alaska to study smoking behavior and chronic disease prevention efforts among Alaska Native populations. Explores special considerations for research involving remote Alaska Native communities and analyzes data related to recruitment best practices, staffing issues, and barriers to enrolling study participants.
Author(s): Mariah Knox, Jordan Skan, Neal L. Benowitz, Matthew Schnellbaecher, Judith J. Prochaska
Citation: International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 79(1), 1806639
Date: 08/2020
Type: Document
view details
National Hospital Care Survey Demonstration Projects: Opioid-Involved Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths
Demonstrates a method for linking three data sets to examine opioid-involved emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and mortality. Reported results are not nationally representative. Includes analysis of opioid-involved and nonopioid-involved ED-only visits for rural and urban areas.
Author(s): Merianne Rose Spencer, Lee Anne Flagg, Geoff Jackson, Carol DeFrances, Holly Hedegaard
Date: 06/2020
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
view details

Additional resources are available related to this guide. See the full list of resources by topic for:


Last Updated: 6/21/2024