Factors impacting on retention amongst community mental health clinicians working in rural Australia: a literature review

Title
Factors impacting on retention amongst community mental health clinicians working in rural Australia: a literature review
Publication Date
2015
Author(s)
Cosgrave, Catherine
Hussain, Rafat
Maple, Myfanwy
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9398-4886
Email: mmaple2@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:mmaple2
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
eContent Management Pty Ltd
Place of publication
Australia
DOI
10.1080/18374905.2015.1023421
UNE publication id
une:17989
Abstract
Australia's rural communities rely heavily on public-sector provided community mental health services and these services face major recruitment and retention challenges, with many long term unfilled positions and high staff turnover. This paper aims, by undertaking a comprehensive literature review of Australian peer-reviewed studies, to identify the impacting factors on retention among community mental health clinicians working in rural Australia. Thirteen studies were found and thematic analysis identified three key main categories (1) the nature of the work; (2) the multidisciplinary team; and (3) the attractors and detractors of working rurally. This literature identifies that community mental health workers have demanding and stressful roles and carry heavy workloads. Clinicians working in rural positions experience additional challenges arising from extra work demands and workplace stresses. The impacts of the interdisciplinary generic casework approach and rurality within community mental health have not yet been well investigated. The studies exploring impacting factors on retention have, so far, mostly focused on work and professional considerations with less research conducted exploring personal and community factors. Future retention focused studies are needed that are multidisciplinary, rural focused and take a multifactor approach.
Link
Citation
Advances in Mental Health, 13(1), p. 58-71
ISSN
1837-4905
1838-7357
Start page
58
End page
71

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