“There is a large population of young families with low incomes in Rexburg, often requiring support to meet healthcare needs, pay rent and utilities, and put food on the table.”
—RAND Corporation
RWJF Culture of Health 5-Year Community Landscape Report: Rexburg, Idaho
Report Oct-01-2022 3-min read
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Report Publish Date: October 2022
This report summarizes Rexburg, Idaho’s health, wellbeing, and equity journey from 2016 to 2021, as part of RWJF’s Sentinel Communities Surveillance project.
Primary Takeaways
“Community capacity for health in Rexburg is driven by the regional public health department and county hospital, which expanded its capacity for mental health services over the past five years,” the authors write. The Latter-Day Saints Church and its faith traditions play an important role in health promotion, social services, and culture. At the time of writing, though schools and city departments advanced health in some ways, there was no cross-sector health coalition in Rexburg.
There had been an increasing focus on mental health during the period studied. At the same time, the authors write, “Support for policies that would improve health has been minimal, relying on grassroots groups and individual volunteers to do the work and prioritizing economic goals over health goals.”
Overview and Objectives
Begun in 2016, RWJF’s Sentinel Communities Surveillance project tracks how a Culture of Health is developing in 29 communities across the country. The authors wanted to describe key challenges, opportunities, and insights in Rexburg.
Hypothesis or Approach
The authors gathered information from phone interviews with Sentinel Community leaders; online, published, and local materials and media about the communities; and data sources including the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, County Health Rankings, and state and local data collection systems.
For this report, the authors conducted 40 hourlong, semi-structured interviews between early 2017 and spring 2022. Interviewees came from several different types of organizations and sectors.
How This Influences Change
“Rexburg’s journey may be informative to other communities who have been challenged by limited public funding and a resistance to government intervention in health,” the authors write. “As COVID-19 recovery continues—with historic funding flowing to local communities—future research could consider the ways in which momentum around health, equity, and wellbeing influences community health narratives and decisions moving forward.”
Research: Go Deeper
Rexburg is a highly religious community in eastern Idaho, home to Brigham Young University-Idaho (BYU-Idaho). The community is tightly knit, and healthy lifestyle choices are an element of the local religious culture; though many in the community have low incomes and struggle with mental health challenges. Local institutions—including Madison Memorial Hospital—and efforts within the local school district have increasingly focused on addressing mental health; while local government has prioritized economic development and access to recreational opportunities for families. Since 2017, the local health narrative has shifted to embody a view of health that incorporates both physical and mental health; and most stakeholders think of health as an individual responsibility to make healthy choices. This presented challenges during COVID-19 response, when many rejected mitigation measures recommended by public institutions—like the regional public health district—in favor of individual freedom. Grassroots and community-based efforts to support residents experiencing vulnerability have ramped up in the past five years, but the community largely opposes policies or changes to systems to address root causes of inequities. As the community experiences a population boom, stakeholders remain concerned about the ability of housing stock, community services, and infrastructure to keep up with demand.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, October 2022
Research Team
This study and report was conducted and created by:
- RAND Corporation
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