Wellness and Integrative Health Strategies for Rural Populations

Nearly 20% of the US population lives in rural and frontier areas. Many of these populations have significant differences from urban populations that create disparities in how they experience disease and achieve health and wellness. Rural populations frequently struggle to access health care, in terms of geography, affordability, and finding providers across the spectrum of care. Nurses in all specialties have an opportunity to apply an integrative health framework to improve the health of these populations in ways that are highly accessible, affordable, and build overall resiliency into population health.