This study focuses on mental health care delivery and the management of chronic co-morbidities to evaluate healthcare accessibility and efficacy in rural Texas. The patterns of telemedicine adoption, implementation, and adaption across Texas spurred by the pandemic are not well understood. The work will focus on mental health care delivery and the management of chronic co-morbidities, specifically diabetes, to understand the potential and challenges in using remote delivery strategies to manage long-term diseases in rural populations and marginalized communities through a mixed-methods approach. This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Communications, Sociology, Latino Population Health, and Decision Science. It allows us for building new research on the shared focus of understanding. mental health crisis and systemic inequities with an eye toward building resilience among healthcare workers and community members, to the overall effective delivery of healthcare in rural Texas.
Executive Director and Ernest A. Sharpe Centennial Professor, Moody College of Communication