Research Participation Through a Rural Lens: Facilitating Equitable Inclusion of Rural Voices
Funded by Michael Smith Health Research BC, SPOR Support Unit
Overview
High-quality health research requires participants who reflect the diversity of the population. Inclusion improves scientific accuracy, reduces bias, prevents harmful or ineffective policies, and fulfills ethical obligations to avoid exploitation and ensure benefits reach all communities— including those outside urban centres. Although progress has been made on gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic inclusion, rural residents remain proportionally under-represented in research in BC.
Rural exclusion is typically unintentional but driven by structural and cultural barriers:
- Geographic and logistical constraints: Long travel distances, difficult terrain, weather conditions, and limited access to in-person research sites hinder participation.
- Limited digital connectivity: Many rural areas lack reliable high-speed internet or cell service, reducing access to virtual research tools such as online surveys or remote monitoring.
- Socioeconomic pressures: Lower incomes, seasonal labour demands, unpaid time off, and hidden costs make participation less feasible.
- Cultural considerations: Rural communities may have strong local norms, hesitancy toward outsiders, and privacy concerns heightened by small-community visibility.
- Clinical research inequities: Urban-centred clinical trials requiring frequent visits, specialized technology, or advanced facilities disproportionately exclude rural residents, limiting their access to potential health benefits.
- Organizational barriers: Rural regions have limited research infrastructure, fewer academic partners, and fewer resources to support recruitment, monitoring, and follow-up.
Together, these barriers threaten the relevance, fairness, and effectiveness of health research outputs.
The project, a collaboration between the Centre for Rural Health Research, the BC SUPPORT Unit and Northern Health, seeks to:
- Document rural residents’ experiences with research participation—including enablers, barriers, perceptions of consent, privacy concerns, and recommendations.
- Understand how urban-based research teams prioritize (or fail to prioritize) rural participant inclusion, focusing on available infrastructure, recruitment strategies, and retention challenges.
- Examine BC SUPPORT Unit regional centres’ capacity to facilitate community-based involvement, including models of co-governance, rural research liaisons, and monitoring/reporting mechanisms.
Outputs will inform decision-makers across health authorities, provincial agencies, professional associations, and rural community networks.
Learn More or Participate:
For more information, please contact the Research Coordinator, Sarah Jackson (sarah.jackson@ubc.ca).[SJ1]
Media Interviews
Research Team:
Jude Kornelsen, PhD
Associate Professor, Co-Director, Centre for Rural Health Research
Monica Mamut, MHA, MSC
Unit Director, BC Support Unit, Michael Smith, Health Research BC
Julia Bickford
Regional Director, Research Evaluation and Analytics, Northern Health
Research Coordinator, Centre for Rural Heath Research
All positions on the Community Advisory Committee for this project have now been filled.
