Importance of attachment to place in growing a sustainable Australian Rural Health Workforce: A rapid review

Abstract

Introduction: Personal, community, and environmental factors can influence the attraction and retention of regional, rural, and remote health workers.However, the concept of place attachment needs further attention as a factor affecting the sustainability of the rural health workforce. Objective:The purpose of this rapid review was to explore the influence of a sense of place in attracting and retaining health professionals in rural and remote areas.Design: A systematic rapid review was conducted based on an empirical model using four dimensions: place dependence, place identity, social bonding and nature bonding. English-language publications between 2011 and 2021 were sought from academic databases, including studies relevant to Australian health professionals. Findings: A total of 348 articles were screened and 52 included in the review. Place attachment factors varied across disciplines and included (a) intrinsic place-based personal factors; (b) learning experiences enhancing self-efficacy and rural health work interest; (c) relational, social and community integration; and (d) connection to place with lifestyle aspirations.Discussion: This rapid review provides insight into the role of relational connections in building a health workforce and suggests that community factors are important in building attachment through social bonding and place identity.Results indicate that future health workforce research should focus on career decision-making and psychological appraisals including place attachment. Conclusion:An attachment to place might develop through placement experiences or from a strong rural upbringing. The importance of the relational interactions within a work community and the broader community is seen as an important factor in attracting, recruiting, and sustaining a rural health workforce.

Experiences of working as early career allied health professionals and doctors in rural and remote environments: a qualitative systematic review

“…Consistent with previous studies [ 5 , 64 ] feeling welcomed and connected to the community was reported to be important in this review. Some allied health professionals discussed feeling welcome and included in the local community, while others reported it was challenging to get to know people, to feel involved and to find out what activities were available within the community.…”

Place identity and careers in regional Australia

“…Research continues to highlight regional Australia's challenge to attract and retain healthcare workers (Buykx et al, 2010). With respect to the present research, there is evidence that sense of place and community may influence health workers' decisions to work and develop their careers in a rural community (Beccaria et al, 2021;Cosgrave, 2020b;Cosgrave et al, 2019;Malatzky et al, 2020).…”

A qualitative exploration of health student perspectives of rural and remote placements during the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Not only did students have limited opportunities to engage with other students and clinicians at placement sites and accommodation facilities, but they were also unable to immerse themselves in the local community and build physical connections with the local area, all of which are important for the development of a sense of place, rural practice and community engagement. 27 , 28 Importantly, this sense of disconnection between rural and remote communities was amplified for students who undertook a virtual rural or remote placement experience, where they remained at home and delivered services remotely via telehealth. This finding is similar to Mak et al 11 who found that virtual placement experiences allow students to achieve clinical learning outcomes, but were not as effective in facilitating their affective and physical learning about the rural location.…”