BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Public Health Policy

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1538494

This article is part of the Research TopicImpact Evaluation using the Translational Science Benefits Model Framework in the National Center for Advancing Translational Science Clinical and Translational Science Award ProgramView all 5 articles

Examining rural health equity and impact through the Translational Science Benefits Model: Outcomes from the CTSA Consortium of Rural States (CORES)

Provisionally accepted
Maggie PadekMaggie Padek1*Rebecca ButcherRebecca Butcher2Rebecca deLacerda AllenRebecca deLacerda Allen3Hilary SurrattHilary Surratt3Maran SubramainMaran Subramain4Beth TiggesBeth Tigges5Alyson G EgglestonAlyson G Eggleston6Jessica H PresleyJessica H Presley7Trent MathesonTrent Matheson8Nasser ShararehNasser Sharareh8,9
  • 1Frontiers Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, United States
  • 2Dartmouth SYNERGY, The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
  • 3Center for Clinical and Translational Science, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, United States
  • 4Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, United States
  • 5Clinical and Translational Science Center, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
  • 6Clinical and Translational Science Institute, College of Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States
  • 7The Translational Research Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
  • 8Utah Clinical and Translational Science Institute, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
  • 9Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Medicine, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

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Introduction: Rural 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. Methods: Utilizing 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). Results: 184 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. Discussion: This 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

Keywords: Rural Health, translational science, TSBM, impact evaluation, CTSA

Received: 02 Dec 2024; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Padek, Butcher, deLacerda Allen, Surratt, Subramain, Tigges, Eggleston, Presley, Matheson and Sharareh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Maggie Padek, Frontiers Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, United States

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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