Report: Rural Resilience and Community Connections in Health: Outcomes of a Community Workshop

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa Mahling ◽  
Michelle LeBlanc ◽  
Paul A. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Rural Health ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Rural And Remote ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Effective Community ◽  
Research And Policy

Canadians living in rural communities are diverse, with individual communities defined by unique strengths and challenges that impact their health needs. Understanding rural health needs is a complex undertaking, with many challenges pertaining to engagement, research, and policy development. In order to address these challenges, it is imperative to understand the unique characteristics of rural communities as well as to ensure that the voices of rural and remote communities are prioritized in the development and implementation of rural health research programs and policy. Effective community engagement is essential in order to establish rural-normative programs and policies to improve the health of individuals living in rural, remote, and northern communities. This report was informed by a community engagement workshop held in Golden Lake, Ontario in October 2019. Workshop attendees were comprised of residents from communities within the Madawaska Valley, community health care professionals, students and researchers from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and international researchers from Australia, Sweden, and Austria. The themes identified throughout the workshop included community strengths and initiatives that are working well, challenges and concerns faced by the community in the context of health, and suggestions to build on strengths and address challenges to improve the health of residents in the Madawaska Valley.

The frontier of digital opportunity: Smart city implementation in small, rural and remote communities in Canada

Urban Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 004209801986366
Author(s):  
Zachary Spicer ◽  
Nicole Goodman ◽  
Nathan Olmstead
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
City Development ◽  
Rural And Remote ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Digital Divides ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Private And Public

Studies of ‘smart cities’ in Canada primarily focus on large cities but not small, rural and remote communities. As a result, we have a limited understanding of the incentive structures for smaller, remote and rural communities to pursue smart city development. This knowledge deficit is concerning, since the introduction of technology can hold a number of unique benefits for these communities, including easier connections to the rest of Canada and large urban centres, reputation building, improved service delivery and enhanced opportunities for residents. Drawing upon localised forms of knowledge creation, policy development theories, adoption and local competition literature and primary interviews with private and public officials, we examine the challenges and opportunities of ‘smart city’ implementation through case studies of small and rural municipalities in Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia and a remote community, Iqaluit, Nunavut. We find that collaboration is essential for rural and remote pursuit of smart city development and is necessary to counteract the limitations of capacity, scale and digital divides. Challenges aside, however, the primary rationale for adoption of smart city technology remains the same regardless of size: enhanced quality of life for residents and sustained community health.

scholarly journals Rural Proofing Policies for Health: Barriers to Policy Transfer for Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 338
Author(s):  
I Nyoman Sutarsa ◽  
Lachlan Campbell ◽  
Malcolm Moore
Keyword(s):  
Health Policy ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Health ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Rural And Remote ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Binary Model ◽  
Urban Rural

A ‘rural proofing’ framework, which offers assessment of the potential impacts of policies on rural and remote communities, has been advocated for by state governments and interest groups throughout Australia. It is argued that rural proofing can be used to redress health inequities between urban and rural and remote communities. While implementation of rural proofing in some countries shows promising results, there are many social and spatial contexts that should be considered prior to its adoption in Australia. Rural proofing is not the best option for rural health policy in Australia. It has been imported from communities where the urban/rural divide is minimal. It is based on a rigid urban/rural binary model that targets disparity rather than accommodating the diversity of rural communities. Rural proofing concentrates on tick-the-box activities, where rural communities are not sufficiently consulted. There is no unified federal ministry in Australia with responsibility for rural and remote affairs. Considering potential shortcomings of rural proofing for health policies, it is imperative for Australia to have a specific rural health policy at both federal and state levels.

scholarly journals Growing health partnerships in rural and remote communities: what drives the joint efforts of primary schools and universities in maintaining service learning partnerships?

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 503-517
Author(s):  
Sue Kirby ◽  
Fabian P. Held ◽  
Debra Jones ◽  
David Lyle
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Speech Pathology ◽  
Rural And Remote ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Learning Partnerships ◽  
Poor Access ◽  
Local Host ◽  
The University

AimThis study explored the partnership between universities and local primary schools to deliver a classroom-based paediatric communication impairment service provided by undergraduate speech pathology students. It aimed to understand how partnerships work to facilitate programme replication.BackgroundThe partners included universities sending students on rural clinical placement, local host academic units and primary schools who worked together to provide paediatric speech and language services in primary schools in three sites in Australia. Rural and remote communities experience poorer health outcomes because of chronic workforce shortages, social disadvantage and high Aboriginality, poor access to services and underfunding.MethodsThe study was in twofold: qualitative analysis of data from interviews/focus group with the partners in the university and education sectors, and quantitative social network analysis of data from an electronic survey of the partners.FindingsFactors supporting partnerships were long-term, work and social relationships, commitment to community, trust and an appetite for risk-taking. We postulate that these characteristics are more likely to exist in rural communities.

scholarly journals Long-Term Drought Harms Mental Health in Rural Communities

Eos ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Cartier
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Rural And Remote ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Prolonged Drought

In rural and remote communities in Australia, psychological distress worsened during the first few years of a prolonged drought. Other signs of poor mental health persisted beyond that time.

scholarly journals The Health Needs and Experiences of Trans Residents in Small and Rural Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 157-164
Author(s):  
Tanya Shute
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Health Care Practitioner ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
Care Experience ◽  
Specific Health

This brief paper summarizes the findings from a community-based research project examining the health needs and experiences of trans-identified people in small and rural communities as presented at the 9th annual Laurentian University Faculty of Health conference. This study involved residents who identify as transgender living in North Simcoe/Muskoka, an area comprised of small, rural, suburban and remote communities. It employed a mixed method design, with quantitative findings derived from a comprehensive online survey and qualitative findings from a series of community focus groups. A sample of findings related to health care experiences grounded in the voices of participants was presented. These findings included several common themes that characterize the health service encounter of residents who are transgender. The health care experience of trading off competent trans-specific health care provision for respect and willingness on behalf of the health care practitioner was common, and provides evidence for the lack of trans-specific health care available in these areas. Experiences of service denial or rejection as a result of their trans identities or gender expression were also common. Residents who are transgendered in areas where there is a lack of service infrastructure are also forced to become their own health care experts, a necessary and distressing reality of accessing health care as a transgender individual in small and rural areas.  

scholarly journals Rural Resilience Through COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 419-420
Author(s):  
Shannon Freeman ◽  
Raven Weaver ◽  
Shannon Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Mentoring Program ◽  
Rural And Remote ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
International Perspectives ◽  
Strength Based ◽  
Rural And Remote Areas ◽  
The Face ◽  
Short And Long Term

Abstract The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been felt globally affecting everyone, but have disproportionately harmed some of the most vulnerable and marginalized including individuals residing in rural and remote areas. The geographic isolation initially thought to protect rural and remote communities from the pandemic soon became a disadvantage, requiring individuals to navigate long-standing systemic barriers (e.g., lack of transportation issues, limited access to healthcare resources, and fragmented accessibility to vaccines), alongside the new challenges posed by COVID-19 restrictions to mitigate the spread of disease. The purpose of this symposium is to showcase examples of rural resiliency in the face of significant struggle. Taking a strength-based approach, the papers discuss efforts to identify healthy coping and positive aspects of physical distancing (Paper 1; Weaver), explore social support and psychological mindset (Paper 2; Fuller), inform successful strategies to pivot programming to remote coalition engagement for obesity prevention (Paper 3; Buys), implement a peer mentoring program to spur development of new strategies to build community resilience (Paper 4; Oh), and review elements of rurality that empower or exclude older people and the implications for a post-COVID world (Paper 5; Curreri). As we continue to uncover and learn about the short and long-term implications of living through the pandemic, these papers describe ways in which rural communities demonstrate resilience in the face of adversity. Our presenters will showcase a range of US and international perspectives and offer policy and program recommendations for building resilience in the longer term.

scholarly journals Tackling Rural Health, Energy, … and Technological Issues All at Once: A Call for a Global Interdisciplinary Platform for Strengthening Rural Setting Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Challenges ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Farshad Amiraslani
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural Setting ◽  
Global Challenges ◽  
Rural Settings ◽  
Research Studies

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has revealed flaws in rural settings where most people live without the necessary tools, income, and knowledge to tackle such unprecedented global challenges. Here, I argue that despite the research studies conducted on rural areas, these have not solved rising rural issues, notably poverty and illiteracy. I propound a global institute to be formed by governments that provides a platform for empowering rural communities through better training, skills, and competencies. Such global endeavour will ensure the remaining rural communities withstand future pandemics if they occur.

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