Interventions to improve primary healthcare in rural settings: A scoping review
Authors
Kris Aubrey-Basler , Krystal Bursey , Andrea Pike, Carla Penney, Bradley Furlong, Mark Howells, Harith Al-Obaid, James Rourke, Shabnam Asghari, Amanda Hall
Description
Residents of rural areas have poorer health status, less healthy behaviours and higher mortality than urban dwellers, issues which are commonly addressed in primary care. After reviewing 372 papers divided among quality (82%), access (20%) and efficiency (13%) categories, the majority completed in the USA (40%), Australia (15%), China (7%), Africa (9%) and Canada (6%) the authors found that despite substantial inequity in health outcomes associated with rural living, very little attention is paid to rural primary care in the scientific literature.
Why is this useful for rural and remote people?
Health policy and funding reform increasingly relies on evidence produced through academic research. Yet the study found that very little research is being done on rural health, despite rural populations constituting a significant share of populations and health outcomes being poor. Rural and remote communities need to explore improving relationships with universities and researchers to drive research into key challenges to create an evidence base for reform.
Suggested Citation
Aubrey-Basler K, Bursey K, Pike A, Penney C, Furlong B, Howells M, et al. (2024) Interventions to improve primary healthcare in rural settings: A scoping review. PLoS ONE 19(7): e0305516.
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