Purpose: Research in rural areas presents special challenges for sampling and recruitment. Examples of considerations include smaller sampling population, privacy concerns, and the rural context. The purpose of this article is to discuss the results of sampling and recruitment strategies within this study. Sample: Nurses form a central hub of health care in rural communities. However, little is known about the lived experience of nurses serving in this capacity. This study explored stories of nurses in a six-county area of three adjoining states in rural South Central Appalachia. Method: Recruitment for the study was completed using state boards of nursing social marketing strategies and snowball sampling. Findings: Sampling and recruitment efforts enlisted 15 participants. The sample was deemed representative of the population as participants represented diverse employment contexts, education preparation levels, licensure duration, and multiple generations. Conclusions: Understanding implications of rural setting and cultural context are critical to successful recruitment and sampling. Privacy considerations may still be concerning, however, multiple de-identification strategies serve to help lessen this risk. Social marketing strategies failed to recruit the needed number of participants secondary to the fact that participants from only one state were recruited in this manner. Smaller population pool limitations were eased by snowball sampling, an approved recruitment method in qualitative research. Future researchers should be cognizant of the influence of rurality norms and cultural context on recruitment and sampling efforts. Social marketing proved less successful than snowball sampling strategies. Further research is needed to develop best practice for rural recruitment and sampling via social marketing. Finally, time and resource commitment for participation can be a barrier. Flexibility in scheduling interviews, location of interview sites, and the availability of audio/phone interviews served to facilitate agreement to participate. Key words: rural, nursing, Appalachia, research, sampling, recruitment

Background The phylum Tardigrada consists of over 1,300 species that inhabit terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments throughout the world. In terrestrial habitats they live primarily in mosses, lichens, leaf litter and soil, whereas tardigrades in freshwater and marine environments are mainly found in sediments and on aquatic plants. More than 65 species have been previously reported in the state of Tennessee, USA. Methods Tardigrades present in moss cushions (Grimmia sp.) collected from a xerothermic habitat on the East Tennessee State University campus, Johnson City, TN, USA, were extracted, mounted on slides, identified, and counted. Additional samples of fresh dried moss were used for integrative analyses, including morphological analysis with phase contrast (PCM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as molecular analyses of COI, 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, and ITS-2 of the Macrobiotus and Milnesium species. Results Five species were found, including two species new to science: Viridiscus miraviridis sp. nov. and Macrobiotus basiatus sp. nov. Viridiscus miraviridis sp. nov. differs from other members of the genus mainly by having a different type of dorsal cuticle and some other, more subtle, morphometric characters. In addition to the two new species, Viridiscus perviridis and Viridiscus viridissimus were present, and males of Vir. viridissimus were found for the first time, the first record of males in the genus Viridiscus. Macrobiotus basiatus sp. nov. is most similar to Macrobiotus nelsonae, but it differs from Mac. nelsonae mainly by the stylet supports being situated in a more anterior position, shorter and narrower egg processes, and a smaller number of areoles around the egg processes. Moreover, the identification of Milnesium inceptum was confirmed as the first record for the USA by analysis of COI.

A major goal of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is to broaden health care access through the extension of insurance coverage. However, little attention has been given to growing disparities in access to health care among the insured, as trends to reduce benefits and increase cost sharing (deductibles, co-pays) reduce affordability and access. Through a political economic perspective that critiques moral hazard, this article draws from ethnographic research with the United Steelworkers (USW) at a steel mill and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) at a food-processing plant in urban Central Appalachia. In so doing, this article describes difficulties of health care affordability on the eve of reform for differentially insured working families with employer-sponsored health insurance. Additionally, this article argues that the proposed Cadillac tax on high-cost health plans will increase problems with appropriate health care access and medical financial burden for many families.

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