Understanding the relationship between social capital, health, and well-being in a southern rural population.

PURPOSE: Social capital is thought to contribute to health and well-being, but its application to a rural context is poorly understood. This study seeks to examine how different forms of social capital relate to health and well-being among rural residents and the extent to which race and degree of rurality moderates these relationships. METHODS: Data from a population-based survey of 6 counties in rural Georgia (n = 1,385) are used. We examined 3 forms of social capital (diversity of interaction, civic engagement, and voting behavior) in relation to 3 health and well-being measures (overall life satisfaction, general health status, and 30-day physical health). FINDINGS: Interacting with more diverse social networks was associated with higher overall life satisfaction for White but not Black participants (P ≤ .001). For those living in more rural communities, interacting with a more diverse social network was more strongly associated with greater general health as compared to those who lived "in town" (P ≤ .01). Greater civic engagement and voting behavior were associated with greater general health for White but not Black participants (Ps < .05). Likewise, voting in all 3 elections was associated with greater overall life satisfaction and fewer days of poor physical health for White but not Black participants (Ps ≤ .05). CONCLUSION: Social capital may be associated with positive health and well-being among those living in rural areas, but it may vary by race and degree of community rurality, suggesting the need to further understand how social capital operates in a rural context.

Differences in Health Care Access and Use by Gender, Race, Income, Age and Employment among Residents of the Rural South.

Understanding how disparities are experienced by subpopulations within rural areas may inform efforts to mitigate persistent inequities in access to health care. Among 2,545 randomly sampled adults who completed a mailed survey in ten rural counties in Georgia as part of a health equity initiative, 50.8% of respondents were aged 35-64, 65.9% were women, 16.6% identified as Black, 36.0% worked full-time, and 39% had a high school degree or less. Significant disparities were observed in health care access, use and financial burden by age, employment status, race, and annual household income. In an examination of intersectionality of race and income, all sub-groups except for higher income Black respondents were more likely to report no health insurance and not seeing a doctor in the past 12 months due to cost relative to higher income White respondents. The findings shed insight into inequities in health care access within rural communities.

Associations between a safety prequalification survey and worker safety experiences on commercial construction sites.

BACKGROUND: While assessment of subcontractors' safety performance during project bidding processes are common in commercial construction, the validation of organizational surveys used in these processes is largely absent. METHODS: As part of a larger research project called Assessment of Contractor Safety (ACES), we designed and tested through a cross-sectional study, a 63-item organizational survey assessing subcontractors' leading indicators of safety performance. We administered the ACES Survey to 43 subcontractors on 24 construction sites. Concurrently, we captured the safety climate of 1426 workers on these sites through worker surveys, as well as injury rates, for the duration of the project. RESULTS: At the worksite level, higher average ACES scores were associated with higher worker safety climate scores (P < .01) and lower rates of injury involving days away (P < .001). Within subcontracting companies, no associations were observed between ACES and worker safety climate scores and injuries. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest the overall and collective importance of the construction project and its worksite in mediating worker experiences, perhaps somewhat independent of the individual subcontractor level.