Introduction: Individuals in rural and remote areas rely upon growth of the occupational therapy workforce to meet their health needs. Attracting new graduate therapists to work in these areas is a well-documented difficulty. Understanding the motivations of occupational therapy students may address new graduate recruitment in Australia and internationally.
Objectives: To explore factors which motivate occupational therapy students to consider practicing in a rural or remote region in Australia as a new graduate.
Methods: This study utilises a convergent mixed methods design with a survey and focus groups. The researcher developed online survey has 99 questions including continuous scales, categorical scales and short answer responses, including questions drawn from the Health Practitioner Motivations Survey published by Tyrrell and colleagues in 2020. The 12-question, online focus group developed by the researchers elicited detailed information and discussion amongst student peers regarding the topics. Undergraduate students were convenience sampled from five Australian universities (population of approximately 1750 students) located across urban, regional and rural geographical area classifications in three states.
Results: Results of the study are yet to be determined as recruitment and data collection are to occur March to June 2025. Results will be presented at the congress as mixed methods findings including descriptive statistics, correlations of survey data and thematic analysis of focus group responses.
Conclusion: The study findings may inform education programs, graduate employment pathways, and government or institutional policies that encourage and support students to work in underserviced rural or remote areas within Australia and internationally.