Health Of Rural Residents Research Articles

Balance or Quality: Impact of Part-Time Farming on the Nutrition and Health of Rural Residents

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between part-time farming and the nutrition and health of rural residents, test the possible effects through two potential pathways—income effect and time effect—and further analyze the family heterogeneity characteristic of downward intergenerational support. Using the ordered probit model and cross-sectional data from the China Rural Revitalization Comprehensive Survey (CRRS), which provide information on household income, health conditions, and nutritional caloric intake, this study estimates the relationship between part-time farming and the nutritional health of rural residents. The effects are decomposed into income (measured by dietary diversity scores and food consumption expenditures) and time effects (measured by excess caloric intake), with additional analysis on family heterogeneity concerning downward intergenerational support. Part-time farming positively correlates with rural residents’ nutritional health through two pathways: income effect (improved dietary diversity and increased food consumption) and time effect (negative impact of excessive caloric intake). Downward intergenerational support mitigates the negative time effect. This paper highlights the often-overlooked impact of part-time farming on rural nutrition and health, emphasizing non-linear effects and the significant role of downward intergenerational support, thus filling a gap in existing research.

An Exploration of Rural Housing Insecurity as a Public Health Problem in California's Rural Northern Counties.

Although widely acknowledged as an important social determinant of health, until recently researchers and policymakers have primarily approached housing insecurity as an urban issue, obscuring the visibility of its impacts in rural contexts, including the ways in which housing insecurity intersects with other health and structural inequities facing rural populations. Working to address this gap in the existing literature, this paper explores the experiences of housing insecurity in a rural context by reporting on an analysis of 210 in-depth interviews with 153 adults between the ages of 18-35, living in California's rural North State, a relatively overlooked far northern region of the state comprised of 12 north central and north eastern counties. Using in-depth qualitative interview data, we conducted an exploratory pattern-level analysis of participants' narratives structured by four dimensions of housing insecurity defined in the literature (housing affordability, housing stability, housing conditions, and neighborhood context). Drawing attention to the pervasiveness of rural housing insecurity within our sample, this analysis highlights the unique ways in which rurality creates distinct experiences not currently captured in the existing literature. Further research is needed across different types of rural communities to better understand the various ways that housing insecurity affects the everyday lives and health of rural residents. By grounding research within the experiences of rural residents, we are better able to respond to the crisis of rural housing insecurity and develop solutions that are tailored to rural residents' unique needs.

Towards integrated sustainability for China's rural revitalization: an analysis of income inequality and public health.

Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being are paramount among the priorities outlined in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations. In China, rural revitalization stands as a pivotal national strategy aimed at fostering prosperity and sustainable development in rural areas. Despite its comprehensive evaluation system, which encompasses industry, ecology, culture, organization, and livelihood, the current index system overlooks the critical dimension of public health in rural areas. The existing body of literature predominantly focuses on the correlation between income and health, leaving a gap in understanding the relationship between income inequality and health from the perspective of villagers. This study addresses this gap by utilizing data from 3,771 villager samples and 302 village samples obtained from the 2019 China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS) to explore the correlation between income inequality and public health in China's rural areas. We employ the Ordered Logistic Regression (Ologit) model in the baseline regression and heterogeneity analysis. Additionally, a mediating effect analysis, using the Sobel test, examines the role of villagers' health awareness as a mediating variable in the correlation between income inequality and villagers' health. The empirical findings of this study unveil a statistically significant adverse influence of income inequality on public health in China's rural areas. Furthermore, the research identifies that participation in regular exercise and the attainment of higher education levels serve as effective measures to alleviate the detrimental impact of income inequality on the health of rural residents. Additionally, income inequality is observed to shape villagers' health awareness, thereby influencing their overall health status. The study's outcomes have significant implications for policymakers and governmental authorities, providing valuable insights into some pathways for enhancing public health in rural China. Ultimately, these insights contribute to the broader objective of achieving integrated sustainability in rural China.

The impact of digital governance on the health of rural residents: the mediating role of governance efficiency and access to information.

Digital transformation in rural areas has become a key policy priority worldwide. China is also implementing a digital village strategy and actively promoting the digital transformation of rural governance to improve the well-being of rural residents. The literature suggests that digital governance is linked to health, but the mechanisms behind this relationship remain unclear. Using data from the 2021 China Land Economic Survey (CLES), this paper examines the impact of digital governance on the health, longevity, and mental health of rural residents. To enhance the robustness of the conclusions, this paper also introduces a dual machine learning model to solve the endogeneity problem of the model. This study concludes that digital governance has a significant positive impact on the health of rural residents. This finding remains consistent even after addressing endogeneity issues and conducting numerous robustness tests. Mechanistic analyses indicate that digital governance can enhance rural residents' health by improving village governance (environmental governance) and increasing the efficiency of access to personal information. Further analysis reveals that digital governance significantly increases the life expectancy of rural residents but that its effect on mental health is not significant. This study provides new insights into how digital governance affects health, with important implications for health policy development.

Spatial effects of township health centers' health resource allocation efficiency in China.

China is a large agricultural nation with the majority of the population residing in rural areas. The allocation of health resources in rural areas significantly affects the basic rights to life and health for rural residents. Despite the progress made by the Chinese government in improving rural healthcare, there is still room for improvement. This study aims to assess the spatial spillover effects of rural health resource allocation efficiency in China, particularly focusing on township health centers (THCs), and examine the factors influencing this efficiency to provide recommendations to optimize the allocation of health resources in rural China. This study analyzed health resource allocation efficiency in Chinese rural areas from 2012 to 2021 by using the super-efficiency SBM model and the global Malmquist model. Additionally, the spatial auto-correlation of THC health resource allocation efficiency was verified through Moran test, and three spatial econometric models were constructed to further analyze the factors influencing efficiency. The key findings are: firstly, the average efficiency of health resource allocation in THCs was 0.676, suggesting a generally inefficient allocation of health resources over the decade. Secondly, the average Malmquist productivity index of THCs was 0.968, indicating a downward trend in efficiency with both non-scale and non-technical efficient features. Thirdly, Moran's Index analysis revealed that efficiency has a significant spatial auto-correlation and most provinces' values are located in the spatial agglomeration quadrant. Fourthly, the SDM model identified several factors that impact THC health resource allocation efficiency to varying degrees, including the efficiency of total health resource allocation, population density, PGDP, urban unemployment rate, per capita disposable income, per capita healthcare expenditure ratio, public health budget, and passenger traffic volume. To enhance the efficiency of THC healthcare resource allocation in China, the government should not only manage the investment of health resources to align with the actual demand for health services but also make use of the spatial spillover effect of efficiency. This involves focusing on factors such as total healthcare resource allocation efficiency, population density, etc. to effectively enhance the efficiency of health resource allocation and ensure the health of rural residents.

Implications of sanitation for rural resident health: Evidence and mechanisms

This paper uses field survey data from rural areas of Liaoning Province, China to investigate the relationship between sanitation and the health of rural residents. The results show that the use of traditional latrine pits is significantly negatively correlated with the health of rural residents. Robustness tests using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) further demonstrate the consistency of the results. Further research suggests that traditional latrine pits may affect the health of rural residents indirectly through the poor eating habits of rural residents and by polluting drinking water sources. Using the Life satisfaction approach method, this study concludes that the health value of flush toilets in the sample area accounts for 98% of annual per capita household income.

Rural homelessness: how the structural and social context of small-town living influences the experience of homelessness.

ObjectivesHomelessness is increasingly recognized as a crisis beyond Canada’s largest cities where it is most visible, yet little is known about the experience and outcomes associated with rural homelessness. The aims of this study were to explore the experience of housing insecurity and its impact on the health of rural residents, identify the various factors contributing to homelessness in a rural Ontario context, and give voice to people with lived experience about their needs, challenges, and potential solutions to the housing crisis.MethodsThis exploratory qualitative study used interpretive description and a critical theory lens. Interviews were conducted with people who were currently experiencing homelessness and key informants in a rural community experiencing a housing crisis. Data collection took place between August 2020 and May 2021. Analysis was inductive and concurrent.ResultsFindings from interviews with 27 participants (16 with lived experience and 11 key informants) revealed how the structural and social context contributed to rural homelessness. Barriers to securing rental housing in a tight market were influenced by small-town dynamics and discrimination. These experiences led to feelings of hopelessness, which combined with daily stressors of managing unsuitable living conditions to contribute to deteriorating physical and mental health. Opportunities for tailoring interventions to the rural context include increasing awareness, expanding transportation, improving access to local services, and applying Housing First principles.ConclusionInterventions to prevent and manage homelessness must be tailored to the unique rural context.

Evaluation of the Dietary Pattern of Rural Residents in the South of the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil


 Objective: We tried to learn about the eating habits and their possible consequences on the health of rural residents in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil in view of the importance of knowing dietary habits in the face of globalization and the risk of developing chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
 Methods: For this, 1344 people were stratified and interviewed between January 2015 and November 2019, individuals aged 18 years or over, working or residing in the rural area of ​​the micro-region studied were included. Epidemiological, anthropometric and clinical data and assessment of dietary pattern were collected. A survey built and validated by Vigitel was used, and the interviewees received scores referring to food consumption in recent weeks. Thus, they were divided into 3 groups, according to their score, with the highest scoring tertile classified as “adequate”, the medium tertile as “intermediate” and the lowest as “inadequate”.
 Results: As a result, most interviewees were men (62.7%), overweight (54.03%), between 44.1 years old, and the average educational level of 6.64 years. Women had higher averages of schooling time and higher values ​​of BMI and waist circumference when compared to males. In addition, a higher percentage of women fit the high dietary pattern when compared to men. Most respondents (54.03%) were classified as overweight, followed by normal weight (41.8%) and underweight (4.06%) when assessing BMI. Older age and level of education varied and were associated to a better quality of diet. It is remarkable that the eating habits of the rural population are increasingly like those in urban areas. Even with better food quality, women have worse anthropometric indices than men. Even though food consumption has changed, it does not appear in the habits of older people.
 Conclusion: However, it is concluded that public policies that promote healthy eating for rural residents are needed.

Telemedicine Assessment for the Mental Health of Rural Residents Based on the Safety Degree of Housing in Seismically Active Regions.

Earthquakes inevitably affect the mental health of local residents. In seismically active regions of Southwest China, local rural residents' dilapidated housing with poor seismic performance aggravates the impacts of earthquakes on their mental health. These residents' mental health is difficult to recognize because of the lack of appropriate assessment methods. In addition, rural residents in the area have a low socioeconomic status and cannot access adequate mental treatment. Thus, telemedicine could be an effective approach to assist mental health practice in such areas. However, the lack of telemedicine assessment factors in these areas makes it difficult to complete the correct triage and prioritization of rural residents' mental health quickly and effectively. To provide a foundation for applying telemedicine to assess the risk of mental health problems that rural residents in seismically active regions experience, this paper studied whether the degree of safety of housing can affect mental health. In this study, nine villages near the epicenter of the 2019 6.0-magnitude earthquake in Changning County, China were randomly selected, and 162 valid questionnaires were completed. SPSS statistical software was used to analyze the collected data. First, the satisfaction of rural residents with the degree of safety of housing significantly affected the K6 score and whether they suffered from mental problems. Second, the mental health of rural residents living in reinforced concrete frame structure housing was obviously superior to that of those living in other types of housing. Next, the most significant factor affecting mental health was the degree of wall cracks. Finally, a new approach was developed to assess and prioritize the mental health of rural residents by using degrees of housing safety and smart technology in seismically active regions. The telemedicine assessment approach is expected to be used in the future for mental health evaluation and the large-scale data scoring of rural residents.

INFLUENCE OF THE SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS ON THE HEALTH OF RURAL POPULATION

Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate the socio-demographic factors of health of rural population living in settlements of up to 1,000 people. We have analysed theoretical approaches explaining the mechanisms of influence of age, level of education, employment status and income levels on the health of rural residents. Materials and Methods: The empirical analysis is based on the selective monitoring of the quality and accessibility of services performed by Rosstat, in the fields of education, health and social services, and promotion of employment. Multidimensional distributions have been calculated using the SPSS 17.0. Results: The results of the research show the influence of the key social determinants (i.e. level of education, employment status, incomes, age) on health, as well as on the features of self-preserving behavior (i.e. levels of appeal for medical assistance, medical information literacy, the levels of compliance with doctor’s instructions). The results of the study allow us to identify the risk groups for the “ill health” of the rural population: people of older age groups, with low levels of education, without official employment and with incomes below the subsistence level. Conclusion: The results of the study can be used in the development and implementation of the public policy measures aimed at strengthening and maintaining the health of rural population.

You Can't Find Healthy Food in the Bush: Poor Accessibility, Availability and Adequacy of Food in Rural Australia.

In high-income countries, obesity disproportionately affects those from disadvantaged and rural areas. Poor diet is a modifiable risk factor for obesity and the food environment a primary driver of poor diet. In rural and disadvantaged communities, it is harder to access affordable and nutritious food, affecting both food insecurity and the health of rural residents. This paper aims to describe the food environment in a rural Australian community (approx. 7000 km2 in size) to inform the development of community-relevant food supply interventions. We conducted a census audit of the food environment (ground truthing) of a local government area (LGA). We used the Nutrition Environment Measurement tools (NEMS-S and NEMS-R) to identify availability of a range of food and non-alcoholic beverages, the relative price of a healthy compared to a less healthy option of a similar food type (e.g., bread), the quality of fresh produce and any in-store nutrition promotion. Thirty-eight food retail outlets operated at the time of our study and all were included, 11 food stores (NEMS-S) and 27 food service outlets (NEMS-R). The mean NEMS-S score for all food stores was 21/54 points (39%) and mean NEMS-R score for all food service outlets was 3/23 points (13%); indicative of limited healthier options at relatively higher prices. It is difficult to buy healthy food beyond the supermarkets and one (of seven) cafés across the LGA. Residents demonstrate strong loyalty to local food outlets, providing scope to work with this existing infrastructure to positively impact poor diet and improve food security.

Rural Residents’ Satisfaction of Household Latrine and its Influencing Indicators: Evidence from Sichuan, China

We conducted a second survey of household latrine based on the first survey study findings of rural facilities that toilet is the most significant influencing factor affecting farmers’ satisfaction. The popularity proportion of rural sanitary latrines in China has been low, and the health of rural residents and the environmental sanitation in rural areas have not been effectively guaranteed. Factor analysis and logistic regression models are used to study the current situation of rural household latrines, rural residents’ satisfaction and its influencing indicators of Sichuan. This research led to three key findings: 1) the present situation of rural household latrine construction in Sichuan is not ideal; 2) rural residents are relatively satisfied with rural household latrines; 3) rural residents’ satisfaction is affected mainly by basic situation of latrines, village committee performance, recovery time, whether the latrine construction is worthy, transparency of village affairs, sources and subsidies of funds, construction participants and construction methods. Results of this study lay a foundation for further research about rural household latrines, and provide a theoretical basis for the construction and reform of rural household latrines in Sichuan.

Historical background and development of applied nutrition and community nutrition in Korea

This paper overviews the historical background and development of applied nutrition and community nutrition in Korea. The nutrition studies in the early years focused on animal experiments, human metabolism, and food analysis and therefore were limited to classrooms and research laboratories in universities without spreading into the lives of people. Korean specialists trained through the UN International Course of Applied Nutrition initiated the Applied Nutrition Program (ANP) in Korea in the 1960s. The ANP in Korea was effectively implemented until 1986 with support from UNICEF, FAO, and WHO as a national project to improve the nutrition and health of rural residents. With economic development and urbanization in Korea, the rural-focusing ANP was re-born to a more extended version with the name of "Community Nutrition" targeting the nutrition and health of the entire Korean population. Scholarly associations including the Korean Society of Community Nutrition established in 1995 have significantly contributed to the development of Community Nutrition in Korea and are expected to continue to work for a better connection between nutrition and health promotion.

An interdisciplinary rural health course: opportunities and challenges

What is the potential of courses designed for nursing students to meet the learning priorities of other disciplines? Who could benefit? Nursing students at Brandon University interested in the ‘community as client’ concept requested a course that focused on the health of rural residents and the communities in which they live. Questions about (1) measuring the health of rural populations; (2) comparing health status, health resources and health care utilization of rural and urban populations; and (3) determining the health of rural communities emerged. As a result the course, ‘Health of Rural Populations and Communities’, was created. The Director of the Rural Development Institute examined the syllabus for the new course and asked that Rural Development students be allowed to enrol. This paper focuses on the challenges and opportunities for nursing education to address learning needs of other disciplines by sharing health and nursing knowledge. In doing so the learning of nursing students is also advanced. The development and delivery of a rural health course is used as a case study to illustrate the potential of this approach for nursing and interdisciplinary education.