Research Publications

Browse the full list of research publications from the Rural Health Research Centers.

Products – Freely accessible products include policy briefs, fact sheets, full reports, chartbooks, and interactive data websites.

Journal Articles – Articles in peer-reviewed journals may require a subscription or affiliation with a subscribing library. For these publications, Gateway lists the article citation, a brief summary, a link to additional information and access to the full-text of the article, if available.

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Five Most Recent Publications

• An Assessment of Area-Level Vulnerability and Resilience Indices by Geography: A Rural-Urban Comparison
  Journal Article
  ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 07/2025
  Area-level vulnerability and resilience indices are widely used to address health needs by informing resource allocation and policy. Researchers found that indices differ from each other and by rurality, contributing to the growing body of evidence to inform the use and improvement of these indices.
• 2010-2022 County-Level Hospital-Based Obstetric Care Status
  Rural Maternal Health Data Support and Analysis Program, University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 07/2025
  This data resource is a county-level dataset containing the county FIPS code, state, and an indicator of whether each United States county had hospital-based obstetrics care in each year, 2010-2022. It is available for download as an XLS file.
• Rural and Urban Differences in Family Physician Burnout Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
  Journal Article
  WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 07/2025
  This study describes burnout for rural and urban family physicians before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings highlight the importance of addressing the unique challenges of rural family physicians that contribute to burnout.
• Geographic and Demographic Correlates of Living in Manufactured Homes: Implications for Health
  Policy Brief
  University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 07/2025
  This brief examines rates of living in manufactured homes by rural and urban location, as well as rates among rural residents by region and socio-demographic characteristics. It also examines differences in crowded housing, housing quality, and housing cost burden by manufactured vs. more permanent housing structures.
• Access and Quality of Mental Health Services in Rural and Urban America
  Policy Brief
  University of South Carolina Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 07/2025
  Access to and quality of mental health facilities is a significant concern in the United States. This research identified disparities in mental health access and care quality by residence rurality.