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Behavioral health in rural America: challenges and opportunities
Behavioral health in rural America: challenges and opportunities
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Gale, John, author
Janis, Jaclyn, author
Coburn, Andrew, author
Rochford, Hanna, author - Contributor(s):
- Rural Policy Research Institute (U.S.), issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Iowa City, Iowa] : Rural Policy Research Institute, December 2019
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Health Services Accessibility
Mental Disorders -- epidemiology
Mental Disorders -- therapy
Mental Health Services
Rural Health Services
Substance-Related Disorders -- epidemiology
Substance-Related Disorders -- therapy
Rural Population
United States - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Mental health conditions (MHCs) and substance use disorders (SUDs), collectively referred to here as behavioral health disorders (BHDs), affect individuals from all sectors of society. However, the prevalence of certain diagnoses and unmet treatment needs are not equally distributed, with place of residence being one factor associated with these differences. Although overall prevalence rates for BHDs are similar across urban and rural areas, their prevalence varies within specific sub-populations and/or across rural areas. Moreover, the rural context has proven challenging for ensuring the availability of and access to BHD prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery services in rural areas. Given the increased health burden that already exists in rural areas compared to urban areas, attention to the patterns of BHDs and needs among rural people is essential to improving the health of rural populations and communities. This paper provides an overview of behavioral health (BH) in rural America. The goal is to help rural leaders and providers understand the issues related to rural mental health (MH) and substance use (SU) and give them resources and tools to develop targeted strategies to address the unique needs of their communities. In the first section, we discuss the prevalence of BHDs in rural populations generally and among certain high-risk population groups (e.g., veterans, children). We then review what is known about rural access to BH services, focusing on the challenges of providing prevention, treatment, and recovery services in rural areas. The third section focuses on promising program and policy strategies that have been tested in rural communities targeting improvements in rural BH systems. We conclude with a discussion of opportunities for policy and system changes to improve rural BH systems and outcomes.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (51 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918383859006676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918383859006676