Have access already?

Get access to this chapter:

Or get access to the entire book:

Chapter 14: Rural Minority Health: Race, Ethnicity, and Sexual Orientation

DOI:

10.1891/9780826108951.0014

Authors

  • Warren, Jacob C.
  • Bryant, Smalley K.
  • Rimando, Marylen
  • Barefoot, Nikki K.
  • Hatton, Arthur
  • LeLeux-LaBarge, Kayla

Abstract

This chapter describes four specific minority groups within rural areas namely African American; Hispanic; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT); and American Indian/Alaskan Native. It also describes leading health issues such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and cancer among rural Hispanics, contributing factors to health disparities among rural Hispanics. The chapter offers recommendations to improve health and eliminate disparities among rural Hispanic populations. For rural African American communities, community-based settings like churches have been found to engender higher participation and retention rates for health promotion programs. Factors such as poverty, health insurance, and having a health care provider contribute to the health disparities among rural Hispanics. Innovations such as telehealth and community-based participatory research hold much promise for advancing health within rural minority groups such initiatives should be encouraged, supported, and appropriately funded to begin to address health inequity in the doubly underserved populations.