Biomaterial Database

Informing rural and remote students about careers in health: factors influencing career decisions. 2007

Elizabeth Buikstra, and Robert M Eley, and Natalie Hindmarsh

Centre for Rural and Remote Area Health, University of Southern Queensland, Cairns, Queensland, Australia. elizabeth_buikstra@health.qld.gov.au

OBJECTIVE Since 1994 a state-wide program has been operating in Queensland to provide non-metropolitan secondary school students with information about health careers. Determination of the factors influencing the career decisions of rural and remote students was one objective of the evaluation of that program. METHODS Telephone interviews. METHODS Secondary schools. METHODS People who had previously attended Year 10 residential health career workshops run by Queensland Health. Ninety-four of 277 past participants to Year 10 Health Careers Workshops responded to a postal questionnaire and were invited to take part in a telephone questionnaire to collect further information related to the course and career choices. METHODS Self-reported factors affecting career decisions of students from rural and remote areas. RESULTS Of the 94 past workshop participants, interviews were held with 70. All participants had left secondary education and had either undertaken or were undertaking some form of tertiary study. The most influential of nine factors to both undergraduate and postgraduate course choices was self-interest. Various other factors differentially contributed to undergraduate and postgraduate course choices among them were the health careers workshops, which played a major influence on undergraduate course decisions of students. CONCLUSIONS Self-interest is the largest self-reported factor to career decision making among students from rural and remote areas. Finance and career advice from school are not considered to be highly influential. However, these independent decisions can be substantially influenced by external information provided through health career workshops.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009042	Motivation	Those factors which cause an organism to behave or act in either a goal-seeking or satisfying manner. They may be influenced by physiological drives or by external stimuli.	Incentives,Disincentives,Expectations,Disincentive,Expectation,Incentive,Motivations
D011365	Professional Practice Location	Geographic area in which a professional person practices; includes primarily physicians and dentists.	Location, Professional Practice,Locations, Professional Practice,Practice Location, Professional,Practice Locations, Professional,Professional Practice Locations
D011793	Queensland	A state in northeastern Australia. Its capital is Brisbane. Its coast was first visited by Captain Cook in 1770 and its first settlement (penal) was located on Moreton Bay in 1824. The name Cooksland was first proposed but honor to Queen Victoria prevailed. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p996 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p441)
D011795	Surveys and Questionnaires	Collections of data obtained from voluntary subjects. The information usually takes the form of answers to questions, or suggestions.	Community Survey,Nonrespondent,Questionnaire,Questionnaires,Respondent,Survey,Survey Method,Survey Methods,Surveys,Baseline Survey,Community Surveys,Methodology, Survey,Nonrespondents,Questionnaire Design,Randomized Response Technique,Repeated Rounds of Survey,Respondents,Survey Methodology,Baseline Surveys,Design, Questionnaire,Designs, Questionnaire,Methods, Survey,Questionnaire Designs,Questionnaires and Surveys,Randomized Response Techniques,Response Technique, Randomized,Response Techniques, Randomized,Survey, Baseline,Survey, Community,Surveys, Baseline,Surveys, Community,Techniques, Randomized Response
D002321	Career Choice	Selection of a type of occupation or profession.	Career Choices,Choice, Career,Choices, Career
D004516	Education, Premedical	Introductory courses leading to an advance study in medicine.	Premedical Education,Medical Propedeutics,Medical Propedeutic,Propedeutic, Medical,Propedeutics, Medical
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001294	Attitude to Health	Public attitudes toward health, disease, and the medical care system.	Health Attitude,Attitude, Health,Attitudes, Health,Health Attitudes,Health, Attitude to
D012189	Retrospective Studies	Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.	Retrospective Study,Studies, Retrospective,Study, Retrospective
D012424	Rural Population	The inhabitants of rural areas or of small towns classified as rural.	Rural Residence,Rural Communities,Rural Spatial Distribution,Communities, Rural,Community, Rural,Distribution, Rural Spatial,Distributions, Rural Spatial,Population, Rural,Populations, Rural,Residence, Rural,Rural Community,Rural Populations,Rural Residences,Rural Spatial Distributions