CCHD helps with rural public health textbook to fill critical gap

The Center for Community Health Development (CCHD) at the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) School of Rural Public Health participated in publishing a rural public health textbook that fills a critical gap in the current literature.

The textbook, Rural Populations and Health, provides an overview of the critical issues surrounding rural health and offers rationale for rectifying rural health disparities in the United States.

Monica Wendel, Dr.P.H., M.A., CCHD director and assistant dean of community health systems innovations, served as an editor, along with three colleagues from the Prevention Research Center for Cancer Prevention at the University of Kentucky: Rick Crosby, Ph.D., Robin Vanderpool, Dr.P.H., and Baretta Casey, M.D., M.P.H.

“Several textbooks exist that focus on rural populations, but from perspectives such as nursing, medicine and social work,” Dr. Wendel said. “This is the first comprehensive textbook to focus on rural public health specifically. We were fortunate to have chapters authored by academic and community research partners from Prevention Research Centers like ours working in rural communities throughout the country.”

Members of the Brazos Valley Health Partnership Board and CCHD faculty, staff and students collaborated to publish a chapter on Capacity Building in Rural Communities, which highlights specific examples of CCHD’s partnership and work in the Brazos Valley.

Other chapters representing CCHD include:
•    Health Assessment in Rural Communities (Burdine, Clark, Shea, Appiah and Hollas)
•    Promoting Adolescent Health in Rural Communities (McKyer, Outley, Blake and Kelly)
•    Rural Food Disparities (Dean, Johnson and Sharkey)
•    Addressing Mental Health Issues in Rural Areas (McCord, Elliott, Brossart and Castillo).

The Center for Community Health Development is one of 37 Prevention Research Centers designated and funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nationally.