'I can't go, I can't afford it': Financial concern amongst health students undertaking rural and remote placements during COVID-19

Jessup, Belinda, Hoang, Ha, Podubinski, Tegan, Obamiro, Kehinde, Bourke, Lisa, Hellwege, Barbara, Jatrana, Santosh, Heaney, Susan, Farthing, Annie, Sheepway, Lyndal, and Rasiah, Rohan (2022) 'I can't go, I can't afford it': Financial concern amongst health students undertaking rural and remote placements during COVID-19. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 30 (2). pp. 238-251.

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Abstract

Introduction: As the coronavirus pandemic unfolded during 2020, widespread financial uncertainty emerged amongst university students across the globe. What is not yet clear is how Australian health students were financially impacted during the initial stages of the pandemic and whether this influenced their ability to undertake planned rural or remote placements.

Objective: To examine (a) financial concern amongst health students during COVID-19, (b) the financial implications of changes to planned rural or remote placements and (c) the impact of these factors on students' ability to undertake placements during the pandemic.

Design: Mixed-methods design involving an online survey (n = 1210) and semi-structured interviews (n = 29). Nursing, medical and allied health students with a planned University Department of Rural Health-facilitated rural or remote placement between February and October 2020 were invited to participate.

Findings: 54.6% of surveyed students reported financial concern during COVID-19. Financial concern correlated with both changes in financial position and employment, with 36.6% of students reporting a reduction in income and 43.1% of students reporting a reduction in, or cessation of regular employment. Placement changes yielded a range of financial implications. Cancelled placements saved some students travel and accommodation costs, but left others out of pocket if these expenses were prepaid. Placements that went ahead often incurred increased accommodation costs due to limited availability. Financial concern and/or financial implications of placement changes ultimately prevented some students from undertaking their rural or remote placement as planned.

Discussion: Many nursing, allied health and medical students expressed financial concern during COVID-19, associated with a loss of regular employment and income. Placement changes also presented unforeseen financial burden for students. These factors ultimately prevented some students from undertaking their planned rural or remote placement.

Conclusion: Universities need to consider how best to align financially burdensome placements with the personal circumstances of students during periods of economic uncertainty.

Item ID: 72660
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1440-1584
Keywords: allied health, employment, finance, medicine, nursing
Copyright Information: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2022 The Authors. Australian Journal of Rural Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of National Rural Health Alliance Ltd.
Date Deposited: 02 Mar 2022 01:37
FoR Codes: 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4203 Health services and systems > 420321 Rural and remote health services @ 50%
42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4202 Epidemiology > 420210 Social epidemiology @ 50%
SEO Codes: 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280123 Expanding knowledge in human society @ 50%
28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280112 Expanding knowledge in the health sciences @ 50%
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