Conducting Rural Health Research, Needs Assessments, and Program Evaluations – Resources

CDC as a Rural Resource: Q&A with Diane Hall
An interview with Diane Hall, Senior Policy Analyst at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Highlights CDC's work in rural health, the role of data collection in program evaluation, and how rural communities can use CDC as a resource.
Author(s): Allee Mead
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 03/2019
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Community-Engaged and Culturally Relevant Research to Develop Behavioral Health Interventions with American Indians and Alaska Natives
Describes in detail the process of developing a community engaged and culturally sensitive research approach intervention for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations that was used to establish substance abuse and violence prevention programs.
Author(s): McKinley, C.E., Figley, C.R., Woodward, S.M., et al.
Citation: American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 26(3), 79-103
Date: 2019
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Utility and Generalizability of Multi-State, Population-Based Cancer Registry Data for Rural Cancer Surveillance Research in the United States
Analyzes various cancer registries to determine the usability of these sources in rural cancer surveillance research. Includes data from 2009-2013 on rural and urban cancer incidence rates by cancer site and race/ethnicity.
Author(s): Whitney Zahnd, Wiley Jenkins, Aimee James, et al.
Citation: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 27(11), 1252-1260
Date: 11/2018
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An Overview of the National Cancer Institute's Initiatives to Accelerate Rural Cancer Control Research
Highlights initiatives developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to address the obstacles and opportunities in rural cancer control research. Summarizes discussions from an NCI-hosted national meeting held on May 30-31, 2018. Conference topics centered on rural definitions, surveillance and epidemiologic research, overcoming methodologic challenges, executing multilevel interventions, and using implementation science in rural cancer control.
Author(s): Amy E. Kennedy, Robin C. Vanderpool, Robert T. Croyle, Shobha Srinivasan
Citation: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 27(11), 1240-1244
Date: 11/2018
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Data Sources and Data-Linking Strategies to Support Research to Address the Opioid Crisis: Final Report
Identifies and describes secondary data sources that can be used in research and evaluations related to the opioid crisis. Discusses common approaches used to link or merge data sources. Describes research needs and challenges related to studying the opioid crisis.
Author(s): Rosanna Smart, Courtney Ann Kase, Amanda Meyer, Bradley D. Stein
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organizations: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, RAND Corporation
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U.S. Small-Area Life Expectancy Estimates Project: Methodology and Results Summary
Describes the methodology used to determine the first set of abridged period life tables for U.S. census tracts from 2010 to 2015 for the District of Columbia and all states excluding Maine and Wisconsin. Provides statistics on small-area life expectancy at birth, and life expectancy at birth and population educational attainment by census tract.
Author(s): Elizabeth Arias, Loraine A. Escobedo, Jocelyn Kennedy, Chunxia Fu, Jodi Cisewski
Date: 09/2018
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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The Death Certificate: A Document to be Honored and Accurate
Provides an overview of the role that death certificates play in understanding death causation and in allocating health resources to address key health concerns. Discusses training approaches that can help address death certificate inaccuracies.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 08/2018
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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HRSA Health Workforce Training Program Evaluation Toolkit
Evaluation framework for Primary Care Training Enhancement grantees in rural and urban areas. Provides recommendations to monitor trainee outcomes and program strategies, and includes 7 modules and related tools to be used in grant planning and in the evaluation phase.
Date: 06/2018
Sponsoring organization: Health Resources and Services Administration
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Issues in Developing Multidimensional Indices of State-level Health Inequalities: National Health Interview Survey, 2013–2015
Examines methodological issues related to developing and estimating health inequality measures that span multiple dimensions of health. One of the inequality attributes included in the discussion is urbanicity, based on the NCHS urban-rural classification scheme.
Author(s): Makram Talih, Maria A. Villarroel
Date: 06/2018
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
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Improving Health Research on Small Populations: Proceedings of a Workshop
Summary of a January 2018 workshop focused on health research with small population groups, including rural populations. Discusses the challenges of small population health research and innovative approaches related to study design, data collection, and statistical analysis to address these challenges.
Additional links: Read Online
Date: 05/2018
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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