Of the 1.6 billion people with hearing loss worldwide, over 1.2 billion live in underserved communities with the least access to hearing care. This includes preventable hearing loss in an estimated 42 million children who, without early identification and treatment, are at increased risk of significant detrimental effects that can last a lifetime.…

Background: Before the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine for healthcare delivery was uncommon. Medicare restricted routine fee-for-service reimbursements for rural patients, with payments made under restricted circumstances. In response to the pandemic, the Department of HHS amended the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental…

Many college students experience basic needs insecurity, which includes a lack of--or fear of the lack of--access to healthy food, stable housing, reliable transportation, affordable child care, physical and mental health care services, the internet and technology, and other necessities students need to survive and thrive in a postsecondary…

Innovation in education is vital for responding to emerging challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and for building progress on longstanding challenges in schools. The infusion of substantial, highly flexible pots of federal relief dollars created an opportunity to pilot new programs and initiatives. Many states and districts opted to invest…

Purpose of the study: To examine (a) whether the content of caregiving tasks (i.e., nursing vs. personal care) contributes to variation in caregivers' strain and (b) whether the level of complexity of nursing tasks contributes to variation in strain among caregivers providing help with such tasks. Design and methods: The data came from the Cash…

Randomized experiments have long been established as the gold standard for addressing causal questions. However, experiments are not always feasible or desired, so observational methods are also needed. When multiple observations on the same variable are available, a repeated measures design may be used to assess whether a treatment administered…

Ten years ago, MDC's report, "The State of the South 2007: Philanthropy as the South's 'Passing Gear,'" (ED519455) examined how philanthropy can accelerate progress toward a South that is both equitable for all its residents and competitive with other regions of the country. A decade later, our second iteration, commissioned by the…

This brief focuses on the efforts of the nursing programs at Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (PCCUA) to reduce time to completion, increase achievement, and enhance student support. To accomplish these goals, PCCUA involved healthcare providers, faculty, students, college curriculum committees, the Accreditation Commission…

Purpose: To determine the association between sleep duration and depressive symptoms in a rural setting. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from Wave 3 of the Walk the Ozarks to Wellness Project including 12 rural communities in Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee (N = 1,204). Sleep duration was defined based on average…

Using data collected from 147 predominately African American senior citizens in Arkansas, this research examined the Illness Intrusiveness Model (Devins, 1991; Devins & Seland, 1987; Devins & Shnek, 2000) to explain variations in wellness specifically related to participants' adaptation to diabetes. The theoretical model hypothesized that…

Research studies report a negative relationship between employment and secondary conditions. Access to health promotion programs to manage secondary conditions, however, is limited for people with disabilities due to employment, financial, and insurance barriers. Vocational rehabilitation (VR) is one possible delivery point to overcome these…

Purpose: Previous research from the Cash and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation (CCDE) in Arkansas, New Jersey, and Florida suggests that giving consumers control over their personal care greatly increases their satisfaction and improves their outlook on life. Still, some argue that consumer-directed care may not be appropriate for consumers…

Purpose: We assess the effect of consumer-directed care on the emotional, physical, and financial well-being of the primary informal caregivers of the Medicaid beneficiaries who voluntarily joined Arkansas's Cash and Counseling demonstration. Design and Methods: The demonstration randomly assigned beneficiaries to a program in which they could…

A study assessed the needs of disabled persons living in four rural counties in Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. Using a combination of forced-choice and in-depth probe questions, researchers surveyed a sample of 456 disabled Americans to identify the problems that these people were facing in their day-to-day living, the consequences of their…

To explore the economic feasibility of a rural broadband telecommunications system supported by revenues from subscriber, commercial and public service users, a potential demonstration cable system was designed and evaluated for Poinsett County, Arkansas. Analyses of projected capital and operating costs, anaticipated revenues, prospective public…