Choosing to practice in rural dietetics: What factors influence that decision?

Objective: The present study aimed to identify those factors that influence the decision of a dietitian to consider working in a rural area. Design: A qualitative design using focus groups was chosen for this study to allow for in‐depth data to be obtained. Setting: University of Newcastle, Callaghan Campus. Subjects: Twenty‐three students/new graduates from the Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Dietetics) degree at the University of Newcastle. Main Outcome Measures: Not applicable, this project was an exploratory study. Results: A number of factors that influence the decision of dietetic students and newly graduated dietitians to consider working in a rural area were identified. These fell into the following main thematic areas: job prospects; rural lifestyle; comfort zones; support networks; promotion opportunities/professional development; type of work/work role; rural needs; and time frame. Conclusions: The present study found that choosing a location to work (whether it be a rural one or not) is a complex process and involves a number of interacting factors. Also those factors that may influence one dietitian to choose a career in a rural area may also be the factors that influence another dietitian not to choose a career in a rural area. What is already known on this subject: Australian rural areas are understaffed with dieticians by more than 50% of optimal numbers. Rural dieticians see variety of work, rural lifestyle, and professional autonomy and responsibility as incentives for working in rural areas, and limited professional development opportunities, professional support, career structure and specialization opportunities as disincentives. What does this paper add?: Career choice by dietetics students is a complex process with some issues such variety of work being incentives for some students and disincentives for others. Students have a ‘comfort zone’ that is a geographical area in which they feel comfortable living and working and even if they will unemployed in an urban area some students are unwilling to move outside of their comfort zone in order to find work.