Research

This topic page provides a brief overview of the Center for Rural Health’s activities relating to Research. This page contains a list of projects, key staff, and information pulled from the publications, presentations, events, news, and maps section of the CRH web site.

Projects

• American Indian Health Research Conference -- A venue to share current research activities concerning health risk and health promotion among Native American communities.
• Building Research Infrastructure and Capacity -- The Building Research Infrastructure and Capacity (BRIC) program provides funding to support the development of health services research.
• Health Insurance Survey of Farm and Ranch Operators -- A health care survey of farm and ranch families in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
• Healthcare Needs of North Dakota American Indian Veterans -- The purpose of this project was to conduct a statewide assessment of health status, healthcare access, and health risk of AI veterans residing on North Dakota’s four reservations and one Indian service area
• Impact of Pesticide Exposure on Cognition in Children -- This NIH funded project examined the impact of chronic exposure to pesticides in children between the ages of 7-12 on intelligence, school-related achievement and motor ability.
• Implementing a Project of Patient Safety in Small Rural Hospitals -- This project is designed to create a model process for implementing a medication safety program in small rural hospitals.
• Mood Disorder Assessment in Northern Plains Indians -- Looks at the accuracy of clinical psychological tests used to detect depression, anxiety, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse problems with American Indian patients.
• National Resource Center on Native American Aging -- Improving the quality of life for Native elders through research, training and technical assistance.
• Non-Physician Clinician Workforce Study -- The NPC (Non-Physician Clinician) project will provide demographic information on the practicing physician assistants, certified nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners in North Dakota to assist in future workforce projections for these disciplines.
• North Dakota Nursing Needs Study -- The North Dakota Nursing Needs Study is a comprehensive, ten-year project that tracks supply and demand of nursing in North Dakota.
• North Dakota State Planning Grant -- Assesses the problem of health uninsurance in North Dakota and develop policy options for increasing access to health insurance.
• Nurse Faculty Intern Study -- The Nurse Faculty Intern study is examining the effectiveness of a role development model for the development of nurse faculty.
• Nurse Faculty Project -- This Dakota Medical Foundation funded project will examine recruitment and retention strategies for nurse faculty.
• Nursing Workforce Impact -- Examines the impact of nurse staffing and nurse work environment on hospital performance improvement in the CMS/Premier Inc. Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID) project.
• Rural Health Research Gateway -- Examines and produces effective dissemination products and approaches for diverse audiences at the national, state and community level.
• State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup -- To utilize relevant state, tribal, and local data to guide substance use prevention planning, programming and evaluation.
• Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center -- Undertakes national projects focusing on quality of rural health care and other important rural health issues.

Staff

• Knudson, Alana
• Moulton, Patricia
• Muus, Kyle

Presentations

• Developing Research Capacity for Tribal Communities
  Presented by Gray, J. and McDonald, L.R. on Aug 28, 2008 at the Native American Research Conference on Health, Portland, OR.
• Establishing Community Based Research with American Indian Communities
  Presented by Gray, J., Gillis, A., Hill, K., Abe, S., & Martin, E. on Jun 23, 2008 at the 21st Annual Society of American Indian Psychologists Conference, Logan, UT.
• Developing Undergraduate Research Capacity in Tribal Colleges
  Presented by Gray, J. & McDonald, R. on Apr 19, 2008 at the American Indian Health Research Conference, Grand Forks, ND.
• Changing Cancer Patterns in Native American Communities
  Presented by Kaur, J. on Apr 19, 2008 at the American Indian Research Forum, Grand Forks, ND.
• Navigating the National Institute of Health
  Presented by Sens, D. on Apr 19, 2008 at the American Indian Research Forum, Grand Forks, ND.

Publications

• A College Suicide Prevention Model for American Indian Students, Muehlenkamp, J.J., Marrone, S., Gray, J.S., & Brown, D., Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (In Press) , 2008
  This article outlines the model developed for the American Indian Support Team from funding through the Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grant funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to focus on reducing suicide risk of American Indian students at the University of North Dakota.
• Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illicit Drug Consumption and Consequences in North Dakota: The North Dakota Epidemiological Profile, 2007, Muus, K., Gray, J., & the State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup, March, 2007
  The report examines the prevalence and patterns of substance (alcohol, tobacco and other drug) use and consequences in North Dakota.
• How Farmers and Ranchers Get Health Insurance and What They Spend for Health Care, Pryor, C., Prottas, J., Lottero, B., Rukavina, M., & Knudson, A., Issue Brief No. 2, December, 2007
  “How Farmers and Ranchers Get Health Insurance and What They Spend for Health Care,” is the second in a series of issue briefs based on a survey of farm and ranch operators in seven Great Plains states. The report examines how farm and ranch operators get health insurance coverage and the amount of their overall healthcare costs including insurance premiums and money spent out-of-pocket for medical services, treatments, products or prescription drugs. It highlights the inadequacies of relying on the private, non-group market to provide affordable, comprehensive insurance coverage to farm and ranch operators.