The longer term impact of a novel rural mental health recruitment strategy: A quasi-experimental study

IntroductionThis study examines the longer term impact of the Gippsland Mental Health Vacation School program, an initiative designed to orientate preregistration allied health and nursing students to rural mental health employment and career opportunities. MethodsStudent participants from vacation schools held from July 2010 to August 2013 were invited to complete on-line surveys prior to, immediately following and 6 months after the event. Participant rating of Interest in rural work, mental health work and rural mental health work and responses to the student attitudes to rural practice and life questionnaire were analyzed using repeated measure analyses of variance. ResultsThere was a large and significant positive increase in pre to post scores for student interest and attitudes to working in and career in the rural mental health sector. These gains in interest and attitudes fell away by approximately 50% in the six months following the program. The changes in attitudes toward rural work remained significant six months after the program, while attitudes to rural life at six months following the program were not-significantly different to the preprogram scores. ConclusionsThe findings highlight that although a short term program designed to attract students to rural mental health work can positively change participants' interest in and attitudes toward rural work and life, the change diminishes over time. However, interest in rural work and career and rural work attitudes generally maintain significant improvement in the longer term. These differential findings have important implications for developing strategies to overcome rural mental health workforce shortages.