Rural health care providers’ experiences of providing care to children and youth with disabilities: a scoping review

Health care providers face many challenges with delivering care in rural areas. However, little is known about their experiences of providing care to marginalized populations, such as children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of health care providers serving rural children with disabilities. We conducted a scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and an inductive thematic approach involving eight international databases (Embase, CINAHL, JBI EBP, Healthstar, Ovid Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science). Of the 2631 screened articles, 31 met the inclusion criteria. The studies spanned across seven countries over a 24-year period. Our findings involved the following themes: (1) training and knowledge of childhood-onset disabilities (i.e., lack of training; adequate training); (2) communication (i.e., communication concerns; effective communication and rapport building with local communities); and (3) lack of resources, services and supports (i.e., staff shortages; travel and accessibility issues; challenges of intersectional needs of rural patients). Our findings emphasize the extent of the challenges that rural health care providers encounter in delivering care to children with disabilities. There is a critical need for further supports, resources and targeted interventions to recruit and retain rural health care providers. Clinicians providing services to children with disabilities in rural areas face many challenges.More training in childhood-onset disabilities and access to ongoing professional development is needed for rural clinicians.More efforts are necessary to recruit and retain rural health care providers serving youth with disabilities.Additional services, supports and resources are required to address gaps in care and to help optimize health outcomes for children and youth with disabilities. Clinicians providing services to children with disabilities in rural areas face many challenges. More training in childhood-onset disabilities and access to ongoing professional development is needed for rural clinicians. More efforts are necessary to recruit and retain rural health care providers serving youth with disabilities. Additional services, supports and resources are required to address gaps in care and to help optimize health outcomes for children and youth with disabilities.