Engaging Students in Rural Health Disparities Research

While the presence and impact of health disparities among rural populations is well known, comparatively little university-based research is conducted into this highly vulnerable and underserved population.  Creating programs that allow students the opportunity to engage in rural health related research directly within rural communities offers unique research and training opportunities that can serve as a powerful tool in increasing the “pipeline” of trainees wishing to focus on rural health research.

The goal of the Disparities Elimination Summer Research Experience (DESRE) is to provide students comprehensive rural health and health disparities training opportunities.  Through NIH Center of Excellence funding, we created a 6-week, full-time research and outreach training summer initiative.  The curriculum consisted of didactic training in research methods, statistics, rural health disparities, and ethics, as well as themed seminars, hands-on experiential research training, community immersion experiences, and several peer mentoring components. Participants in the program reported increased level of competency across several rating areas and higher self-efficacy across all 26 individual learning objectives of the program.

This presentation will focus on the development, implementation, and evaluation of the first two years of the DESRE program (the completed 2013 cohort comprised of local students only, as well as the to be completed Summer 2014 cohort which represents a national cohort of students).  Lessons learned and planned modifications to the structure, curriculum, schedule, and timeline will be discussed.  The individual learning objectives of the program, and the factors that contributed to their attainment, will also be discussed.