Ethical Issues in Rural Health Research: A Scoping Review

Afifi, R.A., E.A. Parker, G. Dino, D.M. Hall, and B. Ulin. 2022. Reimagining rural: Shifting paradigms about health and well-being in the rural United States. Annual Review of Public Health 43: 135–154.

Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Apostolopoulos, Y., M.K. Lemke, N. Hosseinichimeh, I.S. Harvey, K.H. Lich, and J. Brown. 2018. Embracing causal complexity in health disparities: Metabolic syndemics and structural prevention in rural minority communities. Prevention Science 19(8): 1019–1029.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Baquet, C.R., P. Commiskey, C.D. Mullins, and S.I. Mishra. 2006. Recruitment and participation in clinical trials: Socio-demographic, rural/urban, and health care access predictors. Cancer Detection and Prevention 30(1): 24–33.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Brown, V.A., J. Riches, and R. McLeod-Sordjan. 2023. Health equity without ethics perpetuates marginalization. Hastings Center Report Bioethics Forum Essay. https://www.thehastingscenter.org/health-equity-without-ethics-perpetuatesmarginalization/. Accessed July 29, 2025.

Boydell, K.M., M. Hodgins, A. Pignatiello, J. Teshima, H. Edwards, and D. Willis. 2014. Using technology to deliver mental health services to children and youth: A scoping review. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 23(2): 87–99.

PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Cacari Stone, L., M.C. Roary, A. Diana, and P.A. Grady. 2021. State health disparities research in Rural America: Gaps and future directions in an era of COVID-19. The Journal of Rural Health 37(3): 460–466.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

CDC. 2023. State of vaccine confidence insights report: Vaccination in rural America special report. https://archive.cdc.gov/#/details?url=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/downloads/SoVC-vaccination-rural-america-092523.pdf. Accessed July 29, 2025.

Cook, A.F., and H. Hoas. 2015. Exploring the potential for moral hazard when clinical trial research is conducted in rural communities: Do traditional ethics concepts apply? HEC Forum 27(2): 171–187.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Cuadros, D.F., C.M. Moreno, G. Musuka, F.D. Miller, P. Coule, and N.J. MacKinnon. 2022. Association between vaccination coverage disparity and the dynamics of the COVID-19 Delta and Omicron waves in the US. Frontiers in Medicine 9: 898101.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Edwards, K.M., K. Greaney, and K.M. Palmer. 2016. Participants’ reactions to and suggestions for conducting intimate partner violence research: A study of rural young adults. The Journal of Rural Health 32(1): 3–12.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Gamble, A., B.M. Beech, C. Blackshear, et al. 2021. Recruitment planning for clinical trials with a vulnerable perinatal adolescent population using the Clinical Trials Transformative Initiative framework and principles of partner and community engagement. Contemporary Clinical Trials 104: 106363.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

LeCroy, M.N., L.N. Potter, K. Bandeen-Roche, et al. 2022. Barriers to and solutions for representative inclusion across the lifespan and in life course research: The need for structural competency highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science 7(1): e38.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Lee S.S., S.M. Fullerton, C.E. McMahon, et al. 2022. Targeting representation: Interpreting calls for diversity in precision medicine research. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 95(3): 317–326.

Lyerly AD, Little MO, Faden R. 2008. The second wave: Toward responsible inclusion of pregnant women in research. International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics 1(2): 5–22.

Manley, D., K. Garth, and D. Byers. 2012. Challenges in recruitment of African Americans with type 2 diabetes in rural settings. Kentucky Nurse 60(4): 5.

PubMed  Google Scholar 

Miyamoto, S., S. Henderson, H. Young, D. Ward, and V. Santillan. 2013. Recruiting rural participants for a telehealth intervention on diabetes self-management. The Journal of Rural Health 29(1): 69–77.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Myers, U.S., A. Birks, A.L. Grubaugh, and R.N. Axon. 2021. Flattening the curve by getting ahead of it: How the VA healthcare system is leveraging telehealth to provide continued access to care for rural veterans. The Journal of Rural Health 37(1): 194–196.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

National Bioethics Advisory Commission. 2001. Ethical and policy issues in international research: Clinical trials in developing countries: Report and recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. Rockville, MD: NBAC

Nelson, W., G. Lushkov, A. Pomerantz, and W.B. Weeks. 2006. Rural health care ethics: Is there a literature? The American Journal of Bioethics 6(2): 44–50.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Nelson, W., A. Pomerantz, K. Howard, and A. Bushy. 2007. A proposed rural healthcare ethics agenda. Journal of Medical Ethics 33(3): 136–39.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Nkosi, B., B. Zanoni, J. Seeley, and A. Strode. 2022. The ethical‐legal requirements for adolescent self-consent to research in sub‐Saharan Africa: A scoping review. Bioethics 36: 576–586.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Noonan, D., and L.A. Simmons. 2021. Navigating nonessential research trials during COVID-19: The push we needed for using digital technology to increase access for rural participants? The Journal of Rural Health 37(1): 185–187.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Parsons, J. A., and H.K. Johal. 2022. In defence of the bioethics scoping review: Largely systematic literature reviewing with broad utility. Bioethics 36(4): 423–433.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Pew Research Center. 2019. Trust and mistrust in Americans’ views of scientific experts. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2019/08/02/trust-and-mistrust-in-americans-views-of-scientific-experts/. Accessed June 12, 2024.

Probst J., J.M. Eberth, and E. Crouch. Structural urbanism contributes to poorer health outcomes for rural America. Health Affairs 2019 38(12): 1976–1984.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Saelee, R., E. Zell, B.P. Murthy, et al. 2022. Disparities in COVID-19 vaccination coverage between urban and rural counties—United States, December 14, 2020–January 31, 2022. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 71(9): 335–340.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Simon, C.M., H.A. Schartz, G.E. Rosenthal, E.L. Eisenstein, and D.W. Klein. 2018. Perspectives on electronic informed consent from patients underrepresented in research in the United States: A focus group study. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics 13(4): 338–348.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Skewes, M.C., and J.P. Lewis. 2016. Sobriety and alcohol use among rural Alaska Native elders. International Journal of Circumpolar Health 75: 30476.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Stein, J., M. Buck, and H. Bjørnå. 2019. The centre–periphery dimension and trust in politicians: the case of Norway. Territory, Politics, Governance 9: 1–19.

CAS  Google Scholar 

Tanner, A., S.H. Kim, D.B. Friedman, C. Foster, and C.D. Bergeron. 2015. Barriers to medical research participation as perceived by clinical trial investigators: Communicating with rural and African American communities. Journal of Health Communication 20(1): 88–96.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Ullrich, F., and K. Mueller. 2023. COVID-19 cases and deaths, metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties over time (update). RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis, Brief No.2020–9. https://rupri.public-health.uiowa.edu/publications/policybriefs/2020/COVID%20Longitudinal%20Data.pdf. Accessed June 12, 2024.

Vos, S.C., R. Adatorwovor, M.K. Roberts, et al. 2024. Community engagement through social media: A promising low-cost strategy for rural recruitment? The Journal of Rural Health 40(3): 467–475.

Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Wheeler, S.B., and M.M. Davis. 2017. “Taking the bull by the horns”: Four principles to align public health, primary care, and community efforts to improve rural cancer control. The Journal of Rural Health 33(4): 345–349.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Ziller, E., and C. Milkowski. 2020. A century later: Rural public health’s enduring challenges and opportunities. American Journal of Public Health 110(11): 1678–1686.

Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Comments (0)

No login
gif