Prevention Research in Rural Communities
According to the US Census Bureau, there are almost 60 million Americans living in rural communities. Individuals in rural communities face more health disparities and have a greater risk of premature death compared with individuals in urban communities. The Prevention Research Centers (PRCs) are doing their part to address rural health disparities. There are currently nine PRCs conducting their core research projects in rural communities. Their research focuses on a variety of health issues that includes nutrition, physical activity, adolescent health, and sexual health.
Scroll down below for a listing of PRCs with core research projects in rural communities.
Search the Pathway to Practice Resource Center for past and current PRC projects in rural communities.
Learn more about CDC and Rural Health.
Project Title: STANCE (Linking Systems To address ACEs iN Childhood Early on)
Description: The Colorado School of Public Health Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center will implement a community-engaged, stakeholder-driven, multi-level intervention to reduce the intergenerational transmission of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the San Luis Valley region of Colorado.
Visit Colorado School of Public Health Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center’s page
Project Title: Healthy Homes/Healthy Families (HH/HF)
Description: The Emory Prevention Research Center, in collaboration with community partners in rural Southwest Georgia and a regional 2-1-1 system, which connects families with community resources, will assess: (a) the impact of a telephone-based home food environment intervention on weight-related dietary behaviors among 2-1-1 callers, (b) a range of implementation outcomes, and (c) cost-effectiveness and scale-up feasibility of an intervention delivery model to reach low-income populations through a regional 2-1-1 system.
Project Title: Active Iowa
Description: The University of Iowa Prevention Research Center for Rural Health will partner with local public health departments (LPHDs) to translate Active Ottumwa, an intervention to increase physical activity, into Active Iowa across 15 rural communities. The PRC will evaluate Active Iowa implementation strategies in LPHDs and Active Iowa’s effectiveness in increasing physical activity at the community level.
Visit University of Iowa Prevention Research Center for Rural Health’s page
Project Title: Strengthening Partnerships between Parents & Providers to Improve Adolescent Health
Description: The University of Minnesota Healthy Youth Development Prevention Research Center (HYD-PRC) will develop and pilot test a primary care clinic-level intervention to increase the quality of preventive services, including the provision of time alone for rural youth aged 11 to 17 years, while also keeping parents engaged in the process. This project is designed to be replicated by rural primary care clinics in other areas and disseminated through state, regional, and national partners. This study will be completed in partnership with primary care clinics in rural Minnesota.
Visit University of Minnesota Healthy Youth Development Prevention Research Center’s page
Project Title: Take Charge: Implementing a Campus and Community HIV Testing Strategy to Reduce the Burden of HIV/AIDS in Vulnerable Populations
Description: Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center will scale up a culturally relevant intervention called Project Take Charge to reduce the burden of HIV in vulnerable populations. Project Take Charge is an evidence-based HIV testing, education, and condom distribution intervention. The PRC will implement Project Take Charge in three Atlanta-based historically black colleges and universities and one rural school to generate novel data on HIV testing; identify HIV positive persons; provide health education and evaluate fidelity, impact, and cost; identify the facilitators and barriers to carrying out the program in a new rural site and at an urban commuter campus; and assess the effectiveness of condom distribution.
Visit Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center’s page
Project Title: Healthy Places-Healthy People: A Toolkit for Promoting Active Living in Navajo Communities
Description: The University of New Mexico Prevention Research Center will adapt and scale up a model to increase physical activity through increasing access to places to be active in the natural environment to the entire Navajo Nation in New Mexico.
Visit University of New Mexico Prevention Research Center’s page
Project Title: Med-South Lifestyle Program
Description: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention will identify the most effective and efficient way to expand the Med-South Lifestyle Program (MSLP) for use in public health and clinical practices settings so that it reaches minority, rural, and medically underserved populations. MSLP is an evidence-based behavior change intervention that translates the PREDIMED (Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea [Mediterranean]) dietary pattern for a Southeastern US population and includes support for increased physical activity.
Project Title: Accelerating Cancer Control to Decrease Health Disparities
Description: The University of Texas Health Science Center at the Houston Prevention Research Center will expand the use of evidence-based cancer control interventions, policies, and guidelines in communities and health care settings. The PRC will accomplish this through a collaboration of academic, public health, and community partnerships engaged in practice-based, community-engaged prevention research, research translation, and education. The UT Health Science Center at Houston PRC will create a network of community partners across Texas called PACE (Partners Accelerating Cancer Control Evidence) to focus on cancer control in urban and rural minority communities.
Visit University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Prevention Research Center’s page
Project Title: Improving Equity in Depression Care via PEARLS Translation
Description: The University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center will develop and test a community-engaged Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives (PEARLS) translation strategy in two states, California and Washington, to meet the needs of organizations that serve older adults experiencing disparities related to race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), rural area of residence, and lack of access to depression care. PEARLS is an intervention for older adults with a diagnosis of depression or dysthymia, which aims to reduce symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts and improve a person’s quality of life.
Visit University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center’s page
Project Title: The Integrated Community Engagement (ICE) Collaborative
Description: West Virginia Prevention Research Center (WVPRC) will examine the applicability of the Icelandic primary prevention approach, a theory-based approach to reduce substance use in adolescents, to West Virginia. WVPRC’s long-term goal is to improve the health and well-being of young people and families by integrating primary prevention activities into daily life routines.