Rural Mature-Aged Nursing and Allied Health (RMANAH) Student Supports research program

• Dr Claire Quillam

  Rural Nursing and Allied Health Senior Research Fellow

  claire.quilliam@unimelb.edu.au
  03 5823 4576

Project Details

The Rural Mature-Aged Nursing and Allied Health (RMANAH) Student Supports research program was established by Dr Claire Quilliam (The University of Melbourne), Dr Nicole Crawford (Deakin University, Curtin University), and Professor Carol McKinstry (La Trobe University). This research program meshes interdisciplinary knowledge from the higher education student equity and rural health fields to explore the capacity of mature-aged people living in rural communities to join the rural health workforce. Research within this program aims to identify and inform structural changes that support the participation and success of rural mature-aged students in university health professions courses.

Mature-aged students are 21 years or older on study commencement. The proportion of mature-aged higher education students increases with rurality, making rural mature-aged people an important cohort to consider to sustainably develop the rural health workforce.

Stages of research

This program involves four stages of research.

Stage 1. Scoping review.

The scoping review of the literature was conducted by Dr Claire Quilliam, Dr Nicole Crawford, Prof Carol McKinstry, A/Prof Anna Wong Shee (Deakin University), Dr Pamela Harvey (Monash University), Dr Keith Sutton (Monash University), and Dr Kristen Glenister (The University of Melbourne). The review, published in The Australian Journal of Rural Health, found very few supports were available specifically for rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students and highlighted the need to address support gaps from a rural lens.

Stage 2. Gathering data and evidence: Four interrelated studies.

1. Current and potential supports for rural, mature-aged nursing and allied health students on rural campuses: a mixed methods study. This study is led by Dr Claire Quilliam and with Dr Nicole Crawford, Prof Carol McKinstry, Dr Sara Brito (Eastern Kentucky University), Alison Buccheri (The University of Melbourne) and Dr Kristen Glenister. Phase 1 (multi-case study of current and potential supports for RMANAH students on three rural university campuses in Victoria) is complete, with findings published in BMC Medical Education. Phase 2 is led by Dr Kristen Glenister and uses an online survey capturing Phase 1 constructs to explore RMANAH student experiences of study supports on regional and rural Victorian university campuses. This study was funded by The University of Melbourne (Early Career Researcher Grant) and La Trobe University.
2. Location and access to health courses for rural students. This study was led by Prof Carol McKinstry and co-authored by Dr Claire Quilliam, Dr Nicole Crawford, Dr Stephanie Millns (Geraldton Universities Centre), and A/Prof Jason Thompson (The University of Melbourne). The study, published in BMC Medical Education, aimed to map Australian allied health, nursing, dental and medical university course availability in MM 2-7 locations and online. It found a lack of rural on-campus or online course offerings for some allied health disciplines, dentistry, and medicine. The study suggests there is a need for more end-to-end, flexible courses in rural areas or online to reduce access barriers for rural students and to enable sustainable rural health workforce development.
3. RMANAH student demographic study. This study is led by Dr Nicole Crawford and Dr Paul Koshy (Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success) and co-led by Dr Claire Quilliam and Prof Carol McKinstry. The study aims to better understand the nature of the nursing and allied health student population by formulating a profile of the target population, drawing on Australian Government Department of Education enrolment and completion rate data.
4. Mature‐aged people in the rural health workforce system: A systems modelling approach. This study was led by Dr Claire Quilliam and co-authored by A/Prof Jason Thompson, Dr Nicole Crawford, Prof Carol McKinstry, Aaron Chambers (Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative), A/Prof Ravi Bhat (Goulburn Valley Health and The University of Melbourne), and Leigh Stanbrook (Primary Care Connect). In this study, accepted for publication in The Australian Journal of Rural Health (doi: 10.1111/ajr.13222), we used group modelling processes to construct a causal loop diagram to explore the potential of rural mature-aged people to contribute to the rural health workforce system.

Stage 3. Co-designing study supports with and for rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students.

This study draws on findings from Stages 1 and 2 and Student as Partners thinking to pilot the co-design and implementation of study supports for rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students. This study is underway and involves rural university campus mature-aged nursing and allied health students and university staff in three rural Australian communities. This study is led by Dr Claire Quilliam and co-led by Dr Nicole Crawford, Prof Carol McKinstry, Dr Lucinda Aberdeen (The University of Melbourne), Dr Steve Murphy (La Trobe University), and Dr Kelly Naess (Sunraysia Community Health Services, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and La Trobe University). This stage will result in the production of a toolkit to guide rural mature-aged study support co-design and implementation where higher education courses are delivered in regional, rural and remote communities.

Stage 4: Implementation of co-design study supports toolkit across regional, rural, and remote higher education sites.

Participating organisations will include universities, TAFEs, and Regional University Study Hubs in regional, rural and remote locations. More on this stage coming soon. To register interest as a participating organisation, please contact Dr Claire Quilliam: claire.quilliam@unimelb.edu.au.

Researchers

Lead researchers

Dr Claire Quilliam, Research Fellow, Department of Rural Health, The University of Melbourne.

Dr Nicole Crawford, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE), Deakin University; Adjunct Research Fellow, Faculty of Business and Law, Curtin University.

Professor Carol McKinstry, Deputy Dean, La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University.

Associate Professor Sara Brito, Associate Professor, Eastern Kentucky University.

Funding

The mixed methods study of current and potential study supports for RMANAH students on rural campuses was funded by The University of Melbourne and La Trobe University.

Research Publications

Quilliam, C., Thompson, J., Crawford, N., McKinstry, C., Chambers, C., Bhat, R., & Stanbrook, L. (2025). Mature‐aged people in the rural health workforce system: A systems modelling approach. Australian Journal of Rural Health. doi: 10.1111/ajr.13222

Quilliam, C. Dollinger, M., McKinstry, C., Crawford, N., Kuipers, P., Roberts, P., & Versace, V. (2024). The collaborative potential of the rural health and student equity fields in higher education. Australian Journal of Rural Health. 32(6), 1095-1099. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajr.13204

McKinstry, C., Quilliam, C., Crawford, N., Thompson, J., & Millns Sizer, S. (2024). Location and access to health courses for rural students: An Australian audit. BMC Medical Education. 24, 806: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05787-3

Quilliam, C., Crawford, N., McKinstry, C. Buccheri, A., & Brito, S. (2024). Study supports for rural mature-aged university health students: a Stakian multicase study. BMC Medical Education 24, 163. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05128-4

Quilliam, C., Crawford, N., McKinstry, C., Wong Shee, A., Harvey, P., Glenister, K., & Sutton, K. (2021) Building a rural workforce through identifying supports for rural, mature-aged nursing and allied health students: A systematic scoping review. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 29(5), 634-655. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajr.12788

Other Publications

The Advisor (24th July 2024). Increasing support for mature-aged students. https://www.sheppadviser.com.au/increasing-support-for-mature-aged-students/

Crawford, N., Quilliam, C., & McKinstry, C. (2022, April 6). Supporting rural, mature-aged nursing & allied health students: An interdisciplinary collaboration to build the rural health workforce. Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success ([Formally National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education] 2022). https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/rural-mature-aged-nursing-allied-health-students/

Conference presentations

2024

• Crawford, N.,McKinstry, C., Aberdeen, L., Naess, K. & Murphy, S. (Sept 2024). Co-designing study supports for rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students: Initial findings.National Rural Health Conference. Perth (Oral).
• Quilliam, C., Crawford, N.,McKinstry, C., Aberdeen, L., Naess, K. & Murphy, S. (July 2024). Co-designing study supports for rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students: Initial findings for consideration. La Trobe University Shepparton Campus Research Showcase, Shepparton (Invited Oral).
• Quilliam, C., Crawford, N.,McKinstry, C., Aberdeen, L., Naess, K. & Murphy, S. (July 2024). Co-designing supports for rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students: A study protocol. Student Success Conference, Melbourne (Oral).

2023

• Quilliam, C., Crawford, N., McKinstry, C., Buccheri, A., Brito, S. (November 2023). Identifying supports for rural, mature-aged nursing and allied health students: A multiple case study. HERDSA+ACEN Snapshots, Melbourne (Invited Oral).
• McKinstry, C., Quilliam, C., Crawford, N. (August 2023). Building a rural health workforce: Supporting mature-aged nursing and allied health students. 15th National Allied Health Conference, Perth (Oral).
• Quilliam, C., Crawford, N., McKinstry, C., Buccheri, A., Brito, S. (July 2023). Identifying supports for rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students: ​A case study. Allied Health Clinical Educators Network Roadshow. Shepparton (Invited Oral).
• McKinstry, C., Quilliam, C., Crawford, N. (July 2023). Supporting Rural Mature-Aged Health Students to Participate and Succeed in Higher Education. Are you Remotely Interested? Conference, Mt Isa (Oral).
• Crawford, N., Quilliam, C., McKinstry, C., Buccheri, A., Brito, S. (July 2023). Identifying supports for rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students. STARS Conference, Brisbane (Oral).
• Quilliam, C., Crawford, N., McKinstry, C., Buccheri, A., Brito, S. (July 2023). Identifying supports for rural, mature-aged nursing and allied health students: A multiple case study. HERDSA Conference, Brisbane (Oral).
• McKinstry, C., Quilliam, C., Crawford, N., Brito, S. & Buccheri, A., (June 2023). Supporting rural mature-aged students. Presented at the Occupational Therapy Australia 30th National Conference and Exhibition, Cairns (Poster).

2022

• Quilliam, C. Crawford, N., McKinstry, C., Wong Shee, A., Harvey, P., Glenister, K., & Sutton, K. (Aug 2022). Rural, mature-aged nursing and allied health student supports: an untapped rural health workforce cohort. Presented at the University of Sydney PED talk - Rural and Regional Health. Online (Oral, invited presentation).
• Quilliam, C., Crawford, N., McKinstry, C., Wong Shee, A., Harvey, P., Glenister, K., & Sutton, K. (Aug 2022). Rural, mature-aged nursing and allied health student supports: a novel workforce approach​. Presented at the 16th National Rural Health Conference, Brisbane (Oral).
• McKinstry, C., Quilliam, C., Crawford, N., Wong Shee, A., Harvey, P., Glenister, K., & Sutton, K. (2022). Supporting rural, mature-aged nursing and allied health students: a systematic scoping review. Presented at La Trobe Rural Health School Research Conference (Poster).
• McKinstry, C., Crawford, N., & Quilliam, C.  (Aug 2022). Access to health courses for rural Australian students​. Presented at the 16th National Rural Health Conference, Brisbane (Oral).

2021

• McKinstry, C., Crawford, N., & Quilliam, C. (Oct 2021). Access to health courses for rural Australian students. Presented at the 8th Rural & Remote Health Scientific Symposium. Online (Oral).
• McKinstry, C., Quilliam, C., Crawford, N., Wong Shee, A., Harvey, P., Glenister, K., Sutton, K. (Aug 2021). Supporting rural mature-aged nursing and allied health students: A systematic scoping review. National Allied Health Conference. Online (Oral).
• Crawford, N., Quilliam, C. & McKinstry, C. (July 2021). Supporting mature-aged, rural nursing and allied health students: an interdisciplinary collaboration to build the rural health workforce. Presented at the STARS Conference, online (Oral). https://unistars.org/papers/STARS2021/07A.pdf