Development of the Rural Perception Scale (RPS-18)

Area of Science:

• Rural Health
• Psychometrics
• Sociology

Background:

• Rural populations face challenges like limited healthcare access, slow information spread, and isolation, often leading to poorer health outcomes.
• The specific influence of the concept of 'rural' on these disparities is not well understood.
• A validated scale is needed to assess individual-level perceived rurality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a psychometrically sound scale to measure individual-level perceived rurality.
• To identify key dimensions that constitute the concept of perceived rurality.

Main Methods:

• Literature review to identify concepts related to rurality and adapt survey items.
• Development of a survey questionnaire focusing on rural perceptions.
• Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling on data from 1,384 participants in rural states (KY, NH, VT).

Main Results:

• A 18-item rural perception scale was developed.
• The scale identified four latent constructs: belonging (α = 0.896), attitudes toward rural life (α = 0.807), loneliness (α = 0.898), and community social ties (α = 0.846).
• Participants were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk and social media ads.

Conclusions:

• Four distinct subfactors of rurality were identified, explaining how individuals perceive rural environments and lifestyles.
• These findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of the rural experience.
• The developed scale offers a tool for future research on rural health and well-being.