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- Keep Rural Schools Open: Position and Policy
Authors: Emily Norman
Abstract: Rural schools are a central pillar in the communities in which they belong. They offer not only education for the community’s youth, but serve as a community space, educational location for all community members, and enhance new generations’ understanding of local history and current events. The schools ensure that education is accessible to everyone in the community by avoiding long commutes, employing numerous locals, and having smaller class sizes to better cater to individual student needs. While there are benefits to closing schools, often ones of financial nature, the loss of these schools is felt deeply within rural communities. There are options to pursue and consider prior to taking the drastic action of closing a school, including seeking additional state funds, incorporating place-based educational approaches, and working to cooperatively provide extracurricular opportunities between local rural schools.
PubDate: Wed, 10 Aug 2022 06:32:24 PDT
- Rural Parent's Experiences of Stress and Resilience During the
COVID-19 Pandemic and School Closure
Authors: Emily Wilson et al.
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has generated social and economic disruptions, resulting in cascading effects on the health and well-being of global citizens. However, little research has focused on how COVID-19 has affected rural regions, despite rurality being a critical factor for understanding community impact and response to the pandemic. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of rural Nebraskan parents with young children during the COVID-19 pandemic and school shutdown, and the strategies they used to support their families during that time. We conducted individual and group interviews with 22 white, non-Hispanic mothers living in rural towns, villages, and farms in the Great Plains region of the United States. Thematic analysis was used to generate the following themes related to pandemic challenges: Impacts on Children’s Education and Development, Impact on Parent’s Work, and Social-emotional Impacts. Additionally, we generated themes related to the ways that rural parents responded to those challenges: Successful Parenting Strategies, Children’s Strategies, Using Community Provided Resources, Finding Unexpected Benefits, and Hope. This study is meaningful because it documented the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and school shutdown on rural families with young children, and their responses to pandemic-related stressors. Our findings provide further insights into families’ experiences of how COVID-19 affected their lives. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.
PubDate: Mon, 27 Jun 2022 05:08:03 PDT
- Using text analysis to assess the mental health impacts of COVID-19 on
rural healthcare providers
Authors: Cheryl L. Beseler et al.
Abstract: The pandemic increased the stress levels of frontline healthcare providers in every country across the globe, and continues to do so. Health care providers in the rural regions of the U.S. were more vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19 due to the lack of resources and the population they serve. A qualitative study of 25 rural healthcare providers in a western U.S. state was conducted during 2020. In this report, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) was used to compare the use of emotion and reward words in 12 providers interviewed before the onset of COVID-19 on March 11, 2020, to 13 interviews conducted after COVID-19 onset. Results indicated that providers used fewer positive emotion words after COVID-19 onset compared to before COVID. Negative emotion words also decreased. Words related to the rewarding aspects of their work increased after COVID-19, but differed among the pre- and post-COVID groups. Positive emotion words was more strongly related to rewards in the post-COVID group. Providers reported concerns about access to care for those unable to be treated for the increased depression, anxiety and suicide ideation related to the pandemic. The rural health care system needs policies directed at improving patient access to care and greater funding.
PubDate: Mon, 31 Jan 2022 16:27:07 PST
- Treating a Public Health Crisis for Rural Moms – A Comparative Analysis
of Four Rural States Addressing Maternal Opioid Misuse with Medicaid
Innovation Models
Authors: Jason Semprini
Abstract: Objective As we enter the third decade of the opioid crisis, opioid misuse continues its devastating toll on young women, specifically mothers on Medicaid in rural areas. The evolving Medicaid policy landscape has led to coverage and benefit expansion, yet gaps remain for pregnant women with opioid misuse. Further, the myriad of state specific policy decisions related to maternal eligibility and substance abuse benefits have created a seemingly disjoint policy arena for tackling a specific subgroup’s unmet needs. This policy scan aims to investigate the newly implemented 1115 demonstration model for Maternal Opioid Misuse by comparing the approaches of four rural states. Methodology All documentation for each demonstration model and waiver were reviewed and analyzed for rural specific content. Policy language referencing rurality or rural concepts were then identified, categorized, and codified for comparison across the four sample states. Finally, policy and programmatic approaches which were inherently rural were identified and compared between the four states. This analysis concludes with a brief synthesis of the results, as well as a discussion on what gaps may remain.Results Of the two states submitting 1115 Waivers, both (IN, MO) expand eligibility to Medicaid for mothers with opioid-use disorder, but only MO expands Medicaid benefits. Of the three states (CO, IN, ME) implementing the demonstration model, two (CO, IN) leverage health insurance payers as partners while ME partners with local health system providers. Three states (CO, MO, ME) add telehealth and peer support services as authorized Medicaid benefits for mothers with an opioid-use disorder. Only ME used the innovation model to authorize Medicaid to reimburse, provider-to-provider telehealth capacity building models. Conclusion This study highlights and reaffirms the variation in Medicaid policy at the state level. Expanding Medicaid benefits to reimburse necessary telehealth and peer support services may help address service availability gaps in rural regions. Future research should leverage the continual expansion of these MOM models, especially evaluating differences between rural and non-rural outcomes. The excessive morbidity facing these young mothers warrants prompt evaluation and dissemination to promote diffusion across the country until this public health crisis is fully extinguished.
PubDate: Tue, 16 Nov 2021 11:48:58 PST
- Mentee Perceptions of Public School Superintendent Mentorship in a Rural,
Midwest State
Authors: Erin Lehmann et al.
Abstract: Superintendent formal mentorship programs have traditionally relied on geographic proximity and mentor availability to pair new superintendents with mentors. This study examines which mentor characteristics contribute to mentee satisfaction with the formal mentorship program. This study used a quantitative research design in which participants completed a survey used to compare mentor characteristics to mentee satisfaction with the program. 73 (49.6%) superintendents participated in the study, of which 19 had participated in a formal mentorship program. The overall research results suggest that two mentor characteristics, Leadership/Disposition Qualities and Mentor Availability had a significant positive relationship to mentee satisfaction with the formal mentorship program. This study suggests modern technology may be utilized in order to facilitate mentorship pairing based on valued characteristics rather than the traditional criteria of geographic proximity and mentor availability.
PubDate: Wed, 06 Oct 2021 14:02:55 PDT
- “You’re in apple land but you are a lemon:” Connection,
Collaboration, and Division in Early ‘70s Indian Country
Authors: John T. Truden
Abstract: In the first years of the 1970s, Indian Country became paradoxically more interwoven and yet also more divided. Three case studies from Oklahoma’s Indigenous communities illustrate this transformation. Beginning in the mid-1960s, a boom in Indigenous media allowed Indigenous people to communicate far more quickly over once prohibitive distances. In western Oklahoma, Southern Cheyenne parents relied upon Navajo ideas to form their own indigenous controlled school in early 1973. As a result of these exchanges between previously removed people, new indigenous communities emerged along ideological lines rather than those of tribal citizenship or ethnic identity. A few months earlier, the National Indian Youth Council’s Oklahoma chapters, one such evolving ideological community out of many in the United States, successfully brought attention to and changed a key state policy affecting indigenous students in public schools. Even as Indigenous activists collaborated with new vigor, corresponding divisions emerged in existing Indigenous communities; Native people began to debate the meaning of the messages new communities popularized. The American Indian Movement attempted to hold its 1973 national convention at Pawnee, Oklahoma, only to find that Indigenous people in the region did not support the gathering as the movement’s leaders anticipated. Together, these three case studies present a portrait of a diverse, indigenous world that facilitated collaboration through Native media yet wrought with emerging ideological schisms.
PubDate: Wed, 01 Jul 2020 20:38:49 PDT
- Expanding the Capacity of Rural Cancer Care With Teleoncology
Authors: Jason Semprini
Abstract: Background: In the United States, 6 of the 25 leading causes of death stem from site-specific cancers, resulting in over 1.7 million deaths annually. Yet, this burden is not evenly distributed. While the incidence of cancer is significantly higher in urban areas, rural regions face higher rates of cancer mortality. Identifying the factors contributing rural cancer disparities can facilitate more effective and feasible policy solutions.’Problem Definition: Rural Americans are geographically isolated from high-quality cancer services and face systemic barriers to NCI designated comprehensive cancer centers. Given this disparity, rural Americans have failed to fully realize the benefits of expanded federal investment in improved cancer care. Efforts to increase the supply of rural oncologists have yielded mixed results. Rather, this policy review identifies an opportunity to expand the capacity of America’s oncologists through provider-to-provider telehealth models. Methods: Federal and state statutes were scanned for telehealth legislation. CMS guidance relating to telehealth capacity building were also reviewed. The tabulated political venues and policy activity were reported by branch and level of government. Policy recommendations were then made by the focusing on states implementing provider-to-provider teleoncology models in rural regions. Policy Report: In 2016, Congress passed the Project ECHO Act which aimed to evaluate all provider-to-provider telehealth capacity building models. However, the 2019 Project ECHO Act, which aimed to build upon the initial pilot, failed to progress through the Senate. Most provider-to-provider teleoncology activity occurred at the state-level through Medicaid Waivers. Conclusion: Neighboring states can build upon the success of these innovative healthcare delivery models by expanding the diffusion of Medicaid waiver demonstrations which authorize reimbursement for provider-to-provider teleoncology in rural areas.
PubDate: Wed, 03 Jun 2020 09:33:14 PDT
- Teacher Attrition and Retention in Kansas: A Case Study of Geographically
Rural States with Persistent Teacher Shortages
Authors: Tuan Nguyen
Abstract: Teacher attrition is a key contributor to teacher shortages in many states, particularly those with large geographically rural areas. Using seven waves of the School and Staffing Survey and Kansas as a case study, this study examines the teacher labor force from 1988 to 2012. Moreover, the study describes the teacher mobility patterns for Kansas from 2000 to 2012 and compares them against the national average, the Midwest states, and the Great Plains states. Furthermore, it examines whether younger teachers, teachers with graduate degrees, and STEM and special education teachers in Kansas are more or less likely to turn over. Lastly, the study examines how certain teacher and school characteristics are associated with teacher attrition for Kansas as a whole and for rural schools in particular. Implications for research and policy are discussed.
PubDate: Mon, 30 Mar 2020 11:00:17 PDT
- Feeding Victory: 4-H, Extension, and the World War II Food Effort
Authors: Katherine Sundgren
Abstract: 4-H and the Extension Service were instrumental in contributing to the nationwide increase in food production that sustained the United States and its armed forces during World War II. At the onset of the war, the Extension Service distributed essential information at the national, state, and local levels through universities and the 4-H program. 4-H drew upon the intellectual and cultural tradition that they had cultivated to motivate and organize the food effort and help the allies win the war. 4-H’s national influence and resources provided eager allies to war-oriented programs. The war had a lasting impact on 4-H as wartime programming and innovations stayed with the organization, leaving 4-H stronger than before. The aid provided by the 4-H program during the war was rewarded by greater funding from the national government, culminating in the Bankhead-Flannagan Act of 1945. This new funding allowed the 4-H program to continue to expand and impart intellectual and cultural traditions on future generations of 4-H’ers.
PubDate: Wed, 25 Sep 2019 21:39:28 PDT
- Food Insecurity and Assistance on Campus: A Survey of the Student Body
Authors: Michael Miller et al.
Abstract: According to recent studies, food insecurity affects from 34%-59% of college students. This will continue to be an issue as tuition increases and more low-income and first-generation students enter universities and colleges. Nearly 52% of college students live at, or near, the poverty level, compared to a national poverty rate of 14.5%. This leaves many undergraduate and graduate students with challenging decisions around meeting their basic housing, nutritional, and educational expenses. To assess food insecurity at Kansas State University (KSU), a random sample of undergraduate and graduate students was surveyed. Findings include a high rate of food insecurity (44.3%) among respondents. This measure was calculated by summing the affirmative responses to the USDA short-form food security questions in the survey. This means that during a 7-month period during the 2016 to 2017 academic year, 44.3% of respondents experienced at least two of the following: 1) didn’t have enough food to last and didn’t have money to buy more, 2) couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals, 3) cut the size of or skipped meals, 4) ate less than they felt they should because they didn’t have enough money, or, 5) were hungry and didn’t eat. This finding is consistent with other studies that report food insecurity rates between 34% and 59% at U.S. universities and community colleges. Fifty-seven percent of respondents were generally aware that food insecurity is a significant problem on college campuses. A majority of respondents (63%) reported that they knew students besides themselves who, currently or sometime during the academic year, had problems with food insecurity or hunger. Yet food assistance (e.g., food pantries) and SNAP are seldom used and responses regarding the use of an on-campus food pantry were mixed. Despite this mixed response, over 2,000 students had used the campus food pantry within the one-year period between opening in 2017 to 2018 (Bishop 2018).
PubDate: Wed, 28 Aug 2019 13:59:52 PDT
- State Level Revenue Analysis of the Market Facilitation Program
Authors: Anil Giri et al.
Abstract: To compensate the US producers affected by the “trade war” with China, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) offered direct payments to producers using 2018 production levels under the Market Facilitation Program (MFP). Results of the revenue efficiency analysis of the MFP payments show the average producers in 12 out of 14 major corn and soybean producing states were compensated such that their 2018 per acre revenue was more than their 2017 per acre revenue. Conversely, an average producer in those states that experienced drought was under-compensated, as their total per acre revenue after the MFP payment was less than their 2017 revenue. Use of the 2018 yield, instead of a three-year average, resulted in a net positive gain for most producers.
PubDate: Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:03:41 PDT
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