A picture maybe worth a thousand words but a narrative is priceless

Ms Maryanne Long1, Ms  Sonia  Wood1

1Southern Queensland Rural Health, Toowoomba , Australia

Research evidence suggests that peer to peer communication is a potentially influential tool to leverage interest and engage students in the conversation in relationship to the uptake of rural student placement pathways. A significant learning from the Educating Health Professionals in Interprofessional Care (ehpic™) training is the importance of sharing of stories. Informed by an interprofessional education framework, working collaboratively with students and other stakeholders, Southern Queensland Rural Health (SQRH) developed a project based on action research principles to create an innovative rural placement promotional resource. The narrative project engaged with students who discussed their recent rural placements from both a student learning and lifestyle / community engagement perspective.

The narratives took the form of written story-telling and one video production. The journeys of two University of Queensland (UQ) Social Work (S.W.) students transitioning from rural placement to graduate social work positions in rural towns are highlighted, thereby identifying a key employment pathway and addressing the critical issue of recruitment of graduate social workers.

The project resulted in the collation of a range of powerful narratives. Working with our partners, SQRH are currently trialing methods of the most effective way of sharing narratives with students. The target audience, SW students at UQ are currently being accessed via the promotions UQ SW Field Student Blackboard, guest lecture segments and the SQRH social media platforms and website.

Aligned with the action research cycle, currently the project is working through the observing and reflection phases prior to planning the next stage of this evolving project. Rates of pre and post project UQ SW student rural placement data will be monitored and will inform the next phase.


Biography: To be confirmed

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