Rural Legal Deserts Are a Critical Health Determinant
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11025993 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michele Statz (0000-0002-2497-5828, Michele Statz is with the Department of Family Medicine and Biobehavioral Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth. Paula Termuhlen is with the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth.), Paula Termuhlen (Michele Statz is with the Department of Family Medicine and Biobehavioral Health, University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth. Paula Termuhlen is with the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth.), Paula M Termuhlen (0000-0001-7418-8673, University of Minnesota, Duluth) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 110 |
| Issue | 10 |
| Pages | 1519-1522 |
| Publication date | 2020-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048 |
| Publisher | American Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2105/ajph.2020.305807 |
| PMID | 32816549 |
| OpenAlex | W3069786695 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 15 |
We introduce “rural legal deserts,” or rural areas experiencing attorney shortages, as a meaningful health determinant. We demonstrate that the absence of rural attorneys has significant impacts on public health—impacts that are rapidly exacerbated by COVID-19. Our work builds on recent scholarship that underscores the public health relevance of attorneys in civil and criminal contexts. It recognizes attorneys as crucial to interprofessional health care teams and to establishing equitable health-related laws and policies. Attorney interventions transform institutional practices and help facilitate the stability necessary for health maintenance and recovery. Yet, critically, many rural residents cannot access legal supports. As more individuals experience unemployment, eviction, and insecure benefits amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need for attorneys to address these social determinants of health as legal needs. Accordingly, the growing absence of attorneys in the rural United States proves particularly consequential—because of this pandemic context but also because of rural health disparities. We argue that unless a collaborative understanding of these interrelated phenomena is adopted, justice gaps will continue to compound rural health inequities
Context (archaeology) · Economic growth · Economics · Eviction · Geography · Health care · Health equity · Health law · International health · Political science · Public health · Rural health · Scholarship · Climate Change and Health Impacts · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Healthcare Policy and Management · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Health Policy
Spatial barriers as moral failings
It Is Here We Are Loved”
Addressing Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs) in rural places
Understanding the landscape of domestic violence transitional housing
An Agenda for Addressing Health-Harming Legal Needs in Indigenous Communities
Sociospatial Disparities in 'Third Place' Availability in the United States
Rurality as Concordance
Growth and Persistence of Place-Based Mortality in the United States
Public Health and Solitary Confinement in the United States
Training the Next Generation of Researchers Dedicated to Improving Health Outcomes for Justice-Involved Populations
Links of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program With Food Insecurity, Poverty, and Health
Housing as a determinant of health equity
Ordering Legal Plurality
| Citations per year | 1.17 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2024 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |