Exploring how to sustain ‘place-based’ rural health academic research for informing rural health systems: a qualitative investigation

Table 1 Characteristics of rural health researchers (n = 17)

Factor	n (%)
Sex
Female	13 (76)
Male	4 (24)
Age group
30–39	8 (47)
40–49	7 (41)
50–55	2 (12)
Rurality of research location (MMM)^a
2	5 (29)
3–5	9 (53)
6–7	3 (18)
Distance from main campus
<200 km	5 (29)
200–399	6 (35)
400+	6 (35)
Primary income earner
Yes	10 (59)
Trajectory to this position
PhD qualified then moved to rural area with partner’s work and found this job	2 (12)
PhD qualified then moved to rural area to take up this job	8 (47)
Already living in rural area, got PhD qualified and found this job	7 (41)
Childhood origin in rural location of current work
Yes	3 (18)
No	14 (82)
PhD was in rural health
Yes	5 (29)
Employed in a government contracted position
Yes^b	14 (82)
No	3 (18)

^aModified Monash Model (MMM) is the Australian government’s geographical scale that denotes areas that are metropolitan, rural, remote or very remote, based on population size and remoteness. MMM2–7 defined rural areas (https://www.health.gov.au/health-workforce/health-workforce-classifications/modified-monash-model)
^b82% of the rural health researchers were employed on government contracts under the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Fund which at the time of this research had 15 months remaining, with the potential for renewal pending a government review which commenced in 2019

ISSN: 1478-4505