Rural Health and Nursing Research Center

描述（由申请人提供）：我们提议建立一个农村健康与护理研究中心（RHNRC），该中心将提供基础设施来开展和传播护理研究，以响应美国农村人口的临床和信息需求。从广义上讲，该中心将为农村卫生保健系统测试创新的临床和系统干预措施，并调整现有的干预措施以供农村地区使用。技术创新将是在偏远农村社区开展这项研究的关键因素。为了支持这项工作，我们将研究由贫困、隔离、缺乏专业提供者和资源等因素造成的护理障碍，这些因素往往是农村生活的一部分。将特别注意贫困个人、种族和少数民族以及生活在农村地区的老年人的保健需要。该中心进一步促进了大学的外联目标，因此，每年将从研究和研究生研究副校长办公室获得5万美元的配套资金。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to create a Rural Health and Nursing Research Center (RHNRC) that will provide the infrastructure to conduct and disseminate nursing research responsive to the clinical and information needs of rural populations in the United States. Broadly, the Center will test innovative clinical and system interventions for the rural health care system and adapt existing interventions for use in rural areas. Technological innovations will be a key factor in conducting this research in isolated rural communities. In support of this work, we will examine the barriers to care posed by such factors as poverty, isolation, and lack of specialty providers and resources, which are often a part of rural life. Special attention will be devoted to the health care needs of impoverished individuals, racial and ethnic minorities, and the elderly living in rural areas. The Center furthers the outreach goals of the University and, as such, will receive matching funds of $50,000 per year from the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies. The Center will develop and support interdisciplinary teams of researchers, providing them with conceptual, technological and methodological support to achieve the following goals: (1) Build a research infrastructure by supporting the continued development of senior faculty, providing support and guidance for new investigators and developing nurse-researcher role models for students; (2) foster interdisciplinary collaboration, (3) develop descriptions of health, illness and health care delivery in rural areas; (4) evaluate the use of technology to deliver clinical and system interventions in rural settings; (5) design culturally appropriate interventions; (6) adapt interventions developed in tertiary health care settings for use in rural areas; (7) train rural healthcare providers in new assessment and therapeutic techniques and system improvements; and (8) develop long-term community partnerships with rural clinicians, policy makers and consumer groups. In the first years of funding, five pilots are proposed: (1) The Experience of Sexual Assault with Rural Women; (2) eScreening: Case Finding in Rural Primary Care; (3) A Decision-making program in Adolescents with Asthma; (4) Mammography Screening in the Rural African American Population; (5) Medication Adherence Among Older Adults in Rural Virginia. Only three pilots will begin in the first year.