Examining rural health equity and impact through the translational science benefits model: outcomes from the CTSA Consortium of Rural States (CORES)

IntroductionRural communities often lack access to healthcare, have limited resources and infrastructure, and may experience suboptimal translation of evidence-based interventions into practice or measurement of translational research impact. The Consortium of Rural States (CORES), comprising eight...

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Main Authors: Maggie Padek, Rebecca Butcher, Rebecca deLacerda Allen, Hilary L. Surratt, Maran Subramain, Beth Tigges, Alyson G. Eggleston, Jessica H. Presley, Trent Matheson, Nasser Sharareh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-04-01
Series:Frontiers in Public Health
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1538494/full
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author Maggie Padek
Rebecca Butcher
Rebecca deLacerda Allen
Hilary L. Surratt
Maran Subramain
Beth Tigges
Alyson G. Eggleston
Jessica H. Presley
Trent Matheson
Nasser Sharareh
Nasser Sharareh
author_facet Maggie Padek
Rebecca Butcher
Rebecca deLacerda Allen
Hilary L. Surratt
Maran Subramain
Beth Tigges
Alyson G. Eggleston
Jessica H. Presley
Trent Matheson
Nasser Sharareh
Nasser Sharareh
author_sort Maggie Padek
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionRural communities often lack access to healthcare, have limited resources and infrastructure, and may experience suboptimal translation of evidence-based interventions into practice or measurement of translational research impact. The Consortium of Rural States (CORES), comprising eight Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) hubs, is a research consortium that focuses on clinical and translational research impacting rural health.MethodsUtilizing the Translational Science Benefits Model (TSBM) framework, each CTSA hub’s evaluation lead co-created an inventory of rural-focused activities, projects, and initiatives that occurred at their respective site during the funding period 2021–2023. Variables included program area; activity type and description; target population; activity status; outputs; and short-term outcomes. The evaluators then mapped site outcomes according to the four TSBM domains (clinical, community, economic, policy) and 30 subcategories (benefits).Results184 rural-focused activities, projects and initiatives were identified across the hubs. All rural-focused efforts involved impacts in the Community and Clinical domains of the TSBM, with >60% focusing on Community impacts. These results suggest an opportunity gap to better define Economic and Policy-level impacts in the context of rural-focused initiatives.DiscussionThis work demonstrates a novel mapping of the TSBM to rural health research settings and explores the nuances of using the concepts and domains of the TSBM as a coding tool. This work gives the Consortium insight on the types of projects and impacts that are supported and how to prioritize more exploration of the full range of translational science benefits in rural health initiatives going forward.
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spelling doaj-art-edd97eb600274bcb8eadcc4fb9d634292025-08-20T02:19:11ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652025-04-011310.3389/fpubh.2025.15384941538494Examining rural health equity and impact through the translational science benefits model: outcomes from the CTSA Consortium of Rural States (CORES)Maggie Padek0Rebecca Butcher1Rebecca deLacerda Allen2Hilary L. Surratt3Maran Subramain4Beth Tigges5Alyson G. Eggleston6Jessica H. Presley7Trent Matheson8Nasser Sharareh9Nasser Sharareh10Frontiers Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, United StatesDartmouth SYNERGY Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Geisel School of Medicine, Lebanon, NH, United StatesCenter for Clinical and Translational Science, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY, United StatesCenter for Clinical and Translational Science, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY, United StatesInstitute for Clinical and Translational Science, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United StatesUniversity of New Mexico Health Sciences Clinical and Translational Science Center, Albuquerque, NM, United StatesClinical and Translational Science Institute, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA, United StatesThe Translational Research Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, United StatesUtah Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United StatesUtah Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United StatesDepartment of Population Health Sciences, Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United StatesIntroductionRural communities often lack access to healthcare, have limited resources and infrastructure, and may experience suboptimal translation of evidence-based interventions into practice or measurement of translational research impact. The Consortium of Rural States (CORES), comprising eight Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) hubs, is a research consortium that focuses on clinical and translational research impacting rural health.MethodsUtilizing the Translational Science Benefits Model (TSBM) framework, each CTSA hub’s evaluation lead co-created an inventory of rural-focused activities, projects, and initiatives that occurred at their respective site during the funding period 2021–2023. Variables included program area; activity type and description; target population; activity status; outputs; and short-term outcomes. The evaluators then mapped site outcomes according to the four TSBM domains (clinical, community, economic, policy) and 30 subcategories (benefits).Results184 rural-focused activities, projects and initiatives were identified across the hubs. All rural-focused efforts involved impacts in the Community and Clinical domains of the TSBM, with >60% focusing on Community impacts. These results suggest an opportunity gap to better define Economic and Policy-level impacts in the context of rural-focused initiatives.DiscussionThis work demonstrates a novel mapping of the TSBM to rural health research settings and explores the nuances of using the concepts and domains of the TSBM as a coding tool. This work gives the Consortium insight on the types of projects and impacts that are supported and how to prioritize more exploration of the full range of translational science benefits in rural health initiatives going forward.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1538494/fullrural healthtranslational scienceTSBMimpact evaluationCTSA
spellingShingle Maggie Padek
Rebecca Butcher
Rebecca deLacerda Allen
Hilary L. Surratt
Maran Subramain
Beth Tigges
Alyson G. Eggleston
Jessica H. Presley
Trent Matheson
Nasser Sharareh
Nasser Sharareh
Examining rural health equity and impact through the translational science benefits model: outcomes from the CTSA Consortium of Rural States (CORES)
Frontiers in Public Health
rural health
translational science
TSBM
impact evaluation
CTSA
title Examining rural health equity and impact through the translational science benefits model: outcomes from the CTSA Consortium of Rural States (CORES)
title_full Examining rural health equity and impact through the translational science benefits model: outcomes from the CTSA Consortium of Rural States (CORES)
title_fullStr Examining rural health equity and impact through the translational science benefits model: outcomes from the CTSA Consortium of Rural States (CORES)
title_full_unstemmed Examining rural health equity and impact through the translational science benefits model: outcomes from the CTSA Consortium of Rural States (CORES)
title_short Examining rural health equity and impact through the translational science benefits model: outcomes from the CTSA Consortium of Rural States (CORES)
title_sort examining rural health equity and impact through the translational science benefits model outcomes from the ctsa consortium of rural states cores
topic rural health
translational science
TSBM
impact evaluation
CTSA
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1538494/full
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