A systematic review of rural community-based mental health interventions in the United States

Background: Mental health impacts a person’s quality of life and ability to engage in healthy behaviors. Rural communities in the United States have limited access to mental and behavioral health treatment. Aim: To conduct a systematic review to identify existing rural community-based mental health interventions and identify commonalities and differences by extracting study attributes and intervention components. Methods: March 2022 CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Academic Search Complete were searched for studies that met the inclusion criteria of rural, community-based mental health interventions in the United States. Results: Ten publications satisfied the criteria for this review. The most common intervention components identified were peer interaction, developed coping skills, and activity-based interventions. Conclusion: While this review excluded a meta-analysis, it did illuminate the components of existing community-based mental health interventions and highlighted gaps in the current research. Our findings suggest that future community-based mental health interventions would benefit from the inclusion of peer interaction, coping skills development, activity-based, cultural & historical context, service referral, and spirituality.