Prosocial Motives to Serve in Rural Areas: An Exploratory Study Among Health Profession Education Students
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Abstract
Healthcare professionals are presumed to have highly prosocial motives that drive them to serve their communities. Contrary to this presumption, in many countries, including Indonesia, reluctance to serve in remote and rural areas appears to persist among healthcare professionals. This phenomenological study aimed to explore in depth health professionals’ perceptions of prosocial motives, their significance, and the factors that contribute to them, particularly in relation to their decisions to serve in rural areas. Using maximum variation sampling, this study recruited 17 health profession education (HPE) students as well as five related professionals (rural health workers and a social psychologist) as key informants. Data were obtained via two focus group discussions and seven in-depth interview sessions. Interview transcripts were semi-manually extracted using Prosa.ai© – an artificial intelligence (AI)-based software – and analysed using Braun and Clarke’s six steps of thematic analysis. Four themes emerged: (a) conceptualisation of prosocial motives among HPE students and professionals regarding rural area service; (b) the significance of prosocial motives for rural health professionals; (c) hindering factors of prosocial motives in serving the rural areas; and (d) cultivating factors of prosocial motives in serving the rural areas. Prosocial motives may represent an important factor in retaining rural health workers, despite the challenges of practising in these areas. To achieve a sustainable distribution of rural health workers, collaboration between government and educational institutions is needed to develop rural health policies and curricula that cultivate prosocial motives among HPE students.
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