Rural Injuries

Rural living is known for things like close communities and pretty landscapes, but it also comes with some injury risks:

• Geographical isolation
• High-risk farming activities
• Gravel roads and two-lane roads with no shoulders
• Long distances to social and preventative services
• Farther distances to hospitals
• Shortages of mental health care services
• Having an unsecured firearm in the home

In rural America, death rates are higher from motor vehicle crashes, burns, drownings, and suicide compared to urban areas.

Rural injuries & violence are understudied in public health and present unique opportunities for research. Since its establishment in 1991, the UI IPRC has been identifying how rural populations are affected by injuries and what places rural residents are at risk for being injured.  We have also developed and evaluated interventions aimed to prevent injuries among people living in rural areas.

Our blog posts:

• What is “rural” in IVP research?
• The rural effect on injuries
• Stricter lighting & markings may reduce farm crashes
• Rural injuries and violence at home during COVID-19
• Helping vulnerable rural residents prepare for disasters
• A spotlight on rural child injuries

Some media:

• Trauma care for injured farmers often delayed by almost an hour compared with other rural workers: study
• University of Iowa researchers say many farming-related injuries are underreported
• Tractor simulator studies farm safety
• 100 miles from the nearest shelter: the story of domestic violence in rural Iowa
• Long after 80’s farm crisis, farm workers still take their own lives at high rate

Outreach examples:

• 2020 report: Policy and Program Recommendations to Reduce Overdose Deaths in Rural Iowa
• Transportation & rural road safety: A summary of our work
• Improving trauma care & saving lives in Iowa
• Agricultural safety: A summary of our work
• We partner with the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health and Iowa’s Center for Agricultural Safety and Health.

Training:

We include rural content in our courses at the UI College of Public Health including rural injury surveillance, motor vehicle crashes, suicide prevention, and violence prevention. See our curriculum.