Browsing by Subject "rural health"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Depressive symptoms and trust of healthcare provider in rural adolescents: Relationships and predictors
    (Taylor & Francis Online, 2021-03) Hardin, Heather K.; Alchami, Hana K.; Connell, Arin
    The purpose of this study was to evaluate associations among depressive symptoms, trust of healthcare provider, and health behavior in adolescents who live in a rural area. Two hundred twenty-four adolescents aged 14-19 years old attending public high school in the Midwestern United States were surveyed. Results showed a diagnosis of depression, trust of healthcare provider, health awareness, and stress management predicted depressive symptoms in adolescents living in a rural area. Healthcare providers should take extra care to promote trust in the healthcare provider-patient relationship with adolescents and to follow guidelines for annual screening of adolescents for depressive symptoms. Nursing implications include adolescent psychoeducation to improve health awareness and stress management.
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    Identifying The Health Needs In Rural Appalachian Ohio: Outcomes Of A Rural Community-Academic Partnership
    (2012) Vance, Ronald A.; Basta, Tania B.; Bute, Jennifer J.; Denham, Sharon A.
    To identify health issues in two rural counties, a needs assessment was developed by health officials and researchers. Focus groups (n = 32) and interviews (n = 8) were conducted among community leaders and a modified BRFFS survey was completed by 399 community members. Results indicated the health of the participants was influenced by: 1) rural Appalachian culture, 2) geography and access to health care, and 3) lack of access/knowledge about preventive health behaviors. These issues likely contributed to 30% obesity prevalence among the sample, which was prioritized as the main health issue for both counties.
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    Measurements of Rurality and Their Effect on Mental Illness and Substance Use
    (2021-12) Danek, Robin Lynn; Menachemi, Nir; Blackburn, Justin; Greene, Marion; Mazurenko, Olena
    According to the US government, nearly 1 in 5 Americans live in rural areas. In general, rural Americans have poor health outcomes, including higher rates of chronic disease, mental illness and certain types of substance use. A variety of different methods are used to assess rurality in health services research, making it challenging to precisely quantify the prevalence of mental illness and substance use in this population, as well as compare study conclusions. As policymakers become increasingly interested in addressing health disparities between urban and rural populations, it is important to assess and evaluate the different methods used to define rurality itself and determine how those methods affect estimates of depression and substance use, so that true disparities can be accurately captured and addressed. This dissertation will identify current definitions and methods used to measure rurality among published studies and then employ various identified methods to quantify the effect of measurement choice on prevalence of mental illness and substance use in rural populations. The dissertation will follow a three publishable paper model that will include a literature review and two empirical studies using secondary data as described below. For Paper 1, I identify peer-reviewed studies from HSR journals that use any method to measure rurality in their analysis. I analyze whether geographic units and methods used to classify rurality differ by focus area including costs, quality, and access to care. For paper 2, I quantify the impact of different measurements of rurality have on estimates for hospitalizations for depression and substance use. Using 5 different measurements of rurality, I calculate the levels of agreement as well as examine how characteristics of patients with depression or substance use disorder differ based on the definition of rurality used. In paper 3, I examine differences in the relationship between unmet mental health need and subsequent drug use in individuals with a history of depression. Using the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and a pooled crosssectional study design, I examine drug use by alcohol, marijuana, and prescription opioid use. Additionally, I compare self-medication and substance use in individuals by geographic location.
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    Preconception and Interconception Health and Routine Health Service Use Among Women in a Rural Midwestern Community
    (2020-02) DiPietro Mager, Natalie Ann; Dixon, Brian E.; Turman, Jack E.; Zhang, Jianjun; Zollinger, Terrell W.
    Advancement of preconception and interconception health is a key element to improve women’s health as well as pregnancy outcomes. Little is known about the preconception and interconception health status of rural Midwestern populations in the United States. The primary objective of this study was to determine the preconception and interconception health status as well as behaviors of reproductive age women living in a rural Midwestern area. Secondary objectives were to quantify process measures of health care access and barriers to care, as well as determine disparities in preconception and interconception health status among women in this rural area as compared to statewide estimates. As existing national or state secondary data sources often have limitations in data derived from areas with low population densities or insufficient sample sizes to generate reliable estimates, a cross-sectional study was performed using a 34- item survey. Data were collected from February to May 2019 from 315 non-pregnant women ages 18-45 years in a rural county in northwestern Ohio. Nearly all women surveyed had at least one risk factor associated with poor pregnancy outcomes, many of which were modifiable. Nearly half of all respondents reported at least one barrier to receipt of health care services. Women in this rural county fared worse for several preconception and interconception health measures when compared to statewide estimates derived from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and Ohio Pregnancy Assessment Survey data. These findings illustrate the need for continued development of interventions to improve preconception and interconception health for rural women as well as improved methods to capture and analyze data on important subpopulations at risk.
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    Unmet health need and perceived barriers to health care among adolescents living in a rural area
    (Taylor & Francis Online, 2021-01-02) Hardin, Heather K.; Alchami, Hana; Lee, David; Jones, M. Susan
    This study investigated the perceived health care needs, unmet health need, and barriers to health care in 224 rural-dwelling adolescents. A cross-sectional, descriptive design was used to survey adolescents attending a public high school in a low-resource, rural Indiana community. One in five adolescents reported an unmet health need. The most common barriers to health care were related to access, apathy, anxiety, and parenting issues. Implications include confidentiality protocols in family healthcare practices, school-based health centers, and intervention research targeting adolescents’ communication skills and healthcare consumer skills.