"In medicine, rural health or rural medicine is the interdisciplinary study of health and health care delivery in rural environments."
Study about the health status and health care needs of rural communities, the barriers to accessing health care in rural areas, and strategies to improve rural health care delivery.
Rural Demographics: Understanding the demographics of rural populations is crucial when it comes to providing appropriate rural health care services. Rural sociology studies the population density, age distribution, ethnic background, education and occupation patterns, among other factors that may influence rural health.
Rural Health Disparities: Health disparities exist in rural areas, particularly among vulnerable populations such as elderly, minority groups, and low-income individuals. Studies in rural sociology can help gather information on these disparities and come up with tailored health care services that address the gaps.
Rural Health Care Delivery: The availability, accessibility, and quality of health care services in rural areas are often different from those in urban areas. Rural sociology examines the organization, delivery, and management of healthcare delivery in rural areas.
Rural Health Policy: Rural health care policy and its impact on rural populations. Rural sociology can be used to evaluate policy, identify its impact on rural health disparities, and come up with recommendations to address them.
Rural Health Workforce: The rural health care workforce is unique and differs from that of urban areas. Rural sociology studies the recruitment, retention, and training of rural health care providers, including physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals.
Rural Environment and Health: Rural environments and their impact on health include issues such as access to healthy food, clean water, and clean air. Understanding the effects of rural environments is central when it comes to designing appropriate rural health care services.
Rural Health Technologies: Rural communities often face challenges in adopting health technologies such as telemedicine, electronic health records (EHR), and mobile health (mHealth) technologies that are widely used in urban areas. Rural sociology studies the adoption and implementation of health technologies in rural areas.
Rural Mental Health: Rural communities often lack mental health services or have limited access to them. Rural sociology studies the prevalence and impacts of mental health issues in rural areas, examines the existent policies and services, and comes up with recommendations to enhance their provision.
Rural Healthcare Financing and Insurance: Rural populations frequently face financial barriers and constraints when it comes to accessing health care. Rural sociology analyses financing and insurance policies and their impact on rural health care services, as well as potential solutions to overcome such barriers.
Rural Health Organizational Networks: Rural health care is provided by a variety of entities, including hospitals, clinics, community health centers, cooperative agreements, and community-based organizations. Rural sociology studies the structure, coordination, and collaboration among these providers, and highlights the importance of constructing effective rural health care delivery networks.
Rural Health Care Delivery Systems: This type of rural health focuses on the systems that allow healthcare services to be delivered to rural areas.
Rural Health Policy: This research focuses on health policies, services and interventions that authorize and facilitate access to healthcare in rural areas.
Rural Health Issues and Challenges: This research looks at issues specific to rural communities, including access to adequate health services, transportation, workforce shortages, and access to technology, all of which impact the health of rural individuals.
Rural Health Quality: This type of research is concerned with ensuring that rural individuals receive high-quality care.
Rural Health Disparities: This research looks at the gap in health outcomes between rural and urban areas, as well as the disparities in terms of access to healthcare and life expectancies etc.
Rural Health Economic Studies: This research studies the financial aspects of healthcare in rural areas, including the costs of care and the economic impact of healthcare.
Rural Health Workforce: This type of research focuses on the healthcare workforce and includes studies about healthcare workers' shortage in rural areas, retention and training strategies etc.
"The concept of rural health incorporates many fields, including Wilderness medicine, geography, midwifery, nursing, sociology, economics, and telehealth or telemedicine."
"Research shows that the healthcare needs of individuals living in rural areas are different from those in urban areas."
"These differences are the result of geographic, demographic, socioeconomic, workplace, and personal health factors."
"For example, many rural communities have a large proportion of elderly people and children. With relatively few people of working age (20–50 years of age), such communities have a high dependency ratio."
"People living in rural areas also tend to have poorer socioeconomic conditions, less education, higher rates of tobacco and alcohol use, and higher mortality rates when compared to their urban counterparts."
"There are also high rates of poverty among rural dwellers in many parts of the world, and poverty is one of the biggest social determinants of health."
"Many countries have made it a priority to increase funding for research on rural health."
"...including the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research in Canada, Countryside Agency in the United Kingdom, the Institute of Rural Health in Australia, and the New Zealand Institute of Rural Health."
"These research efforts are designed to help identify the healthcare needs of rural communities and provide policy solutions to ensure those needs are met."
"The concept of incorporating the needs of rural communities into government services is sometimes referred to as rural proofing."