Rural Hometown Research Articles

Menstrual practice needs among college going women in Coimbatore district, India: an analytical cross-sectional study

BackgroundIn India, twenty-five percent of women who menstruate are unable to utilize sanitary methods, and even among those who have access, there are multiple obstacles to achieving proper menstrual hygiene management. The consequences of inadequate menstrual health may extend to affect a girl’s socialisation, empowerment, overall well-being, and even survival. ObjectivesTo estimate the prevalence of unmet menstrual practice needs and its determinants among college going women in Coimbatore district, India. MethodologyA questionnaire based analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among 3144 college going women from October 2022 to January 2023. Menstrual Practice Needs Scale (MPNS-36) was used to collect data regarding the unmet needs and their mean scores were compared across socio-demographic variables, menstrual knowledge, and the choice of hygiene material. ResultsThe mean (SD) age of the study population was 19.3 (1.8) years. The prevalence of unmet menstrual practice needs was 62.8% with a mean (SD) MPNS score of 1.8 (0.4). The total MPNS score was low for those currently residing in rural or having a rural hometown. The unmet need was better for those residing in-campus of the educational institute and having educated parents. The socioeconomic class and presence of a personal income also influenced the total MPNS scores significantly (p < 0.05). Menstrual talks with friends before puberty and with friends and family after puberty improved the MPNS scores. Regarding menstrual hygiene methods, modern menstrual methods (MMM), disposable and bio-degradable materials had a lower unmet need. Marital status, freedom to manage expenses, pre-pubertal menstrual talks with family, and total number of family members did not influence the scores of MPNS. Multivariate regression analysis showed that maternal education, menstrual talks with family after puberty, and type of menstrual hygiene method including its disposability were independent predictors of total MPNS scores. ConclusionAddressing unmet menstrual practice needs among college-going women in Coimbatore district necessitates a multifaceted approach encompassing education, access to affordable and sustainable menstrual products, and destigmatization efforts.

Cultural repertoires and status safeguarding among rural middle‐class parents

AbstractObjectiveThis study investigated how middle‐class rural parents engaged in status safeguarding in an economically struggling rural community and how the parenting views and practices of rural return migrants impacted the community.BackgroundRural communities seek college‐educated returners to offset outmigration. We know little about how returners impact the community, especially if they return to raise children.MethodThis study analyzed interview data from 15 white, college‐educated parents between the ages of 25 and 38 who returned to their rural hometown to raise their children.ResultsAll returners emphasized their children's choice regarding their future educational and occupational paths, and they equally valued college and skilled trades. In other ways, rural return migrants drew on distinct cultural repertoires in their childrearing strategies. Parents who had not lived in cities before returning relied on a localized cultural repertoire to engage in status safeguarding through reputation management as they monitored cross‐class interactions and emphasized fitting in. In contrast, rural return migrants who had lived in cities drew on a cosmopolitan cultural repertoire that emphasized exposure to cultural amenities and engaged in cultural practices that they saw as distinguishing their children from the local community.ConclusionAlthough the return of college‐educated residents is often celebrated, this study suggests that college‐educated migrants may ultimately maintain inequalities within the community through social class or cultural exclusion based on their cultural repertoires.

Jumping up the sanitation ladder in rural Cambodia: The role of remittances and peer-to-peer pressure in adopting high-quality latrines

Over the last 50 years, a combination of factors has driven sanitation improvements in rural areas of low-income and emerging economies in Asia. While open defecation remains an important challenge in many countries, Cambodia has rapidly increased rural sanitation coverage in the last 20 years. Using data collected via 92 interviews and seven focus group discussions, this qualitative study analysed the macro-level, community, and individual factors that motivated rural households to invest in high-quality latrines in seven villages in Cambodia that achieved and sustained open defecation free status with at least 85% latrine coverage. Local demand for adoption of high quality latrine was stimulated by a number of factors which include: a) NGO-led interventions that included behaviour change communication, sanitation marketing, and community-led total sanitation, all magnified by the strong support of local leaders at the village and commune levels; b) an increased proportion of rural households engaging in factory work, with access to raising wages, higher disposable incomes, and remittances; and c) subsidies and microcredit. Furthermore, migrants not only transferred financial resources to their home villages, but also transferred a set of ideas, norms, expectations, information, and behaviors back to their communities that reflect the migrants’ new ways of life, and economic possibilities. We provide evidence that new habits among factory workers, and ownership and display of new technologies and consumer commodities as symbols of modern success and social status facilitated high-quality latrine adoption. Peer-to-peer pressure at the village level, and among adult children commuting to factories or visiting their rural hometown ensured widespread adoption.

"Juggle the different hats we wear": enacted strategies for negotiating boundaries in overlapping relationships.

Despite agreement that teaching on professional boundaries is needed, the design of health profession curricula is challenged by a lack of research on how boundaries are maintained and disagreement on where boundaries should be drawn. Curricula constrained by these challenges can leave graduates without formal preparation for practice conditions. Dual role or overlapping relationships are an example: they continue to be taught as boundary crossings amidst mounting evidence that they must be routinely navigated in small, interconnected communities. In this study, we examined how physicians are navigating overlapping personal (non-sexual) and professional relationships with the goal to inform teaching and curricula on professional boundaries. Following constructivist grounded theory methodology, 22 physicians who had returned to their rural, northern and/or remote hometown in British Columbia, Canada or who had lived and practised in a such a community for decades were interviewed in iterative cycles informed by analysis. We identified four strategies described by physicians for regulating multiple roles within overlapping relationships: (a) signalling the appropriate role for the current context; (b) separating roles by redirecting an interaction to an appropriate context; (c) switching roles by pushing the appropriate role forward into the context and pulling other roles into the background; and (d) suspending an interfering role by ending a relationship. Negotiating boundaries within overlapping relationships may involve monitoring role clarity and role alignment, while avoiding role conflict. The enacted role regulation strategies could be critically assessed within teaching discussions on professional boundaries and also analyzed through further ethics research.

Remittance usage for rural hometown investing in the Philippines: A mixed methods study

This paper analyzes differences in attitudes and strategies for investing and entrepreneurship among families receiving remittances from their overseas emigrants at two rural communities in the Philippines. It examines how these households in the origin country determine how to invest remittances, and the extent to which these decisions are influenced by topographical, socio-economic, political, and cultural factors in their local spatial contexts. How do individual behaviors, along with risk appetite and financial capabilities, interact with such contexts as origin households assess the hazards and likely returns of investing locally? Primary data collected through household surveys in 2018–2019, and a rapid qualitative inquiry methodology, enable us in this mixed methods research to explore the interplay between individual financial behaviors and spatial factors affecting decision making. We can report that migrants’ origin households, and local financial institutions and entrepreneurs, employ relevant costing in reaching economic decisions, and assess favorable and adverse investment considerations explicitly. Remittance-supported economic development in origin communities relies on enhancements in household financial knowledge, and on interventions —through policy and regulation— to sustain and improve the local investment climate. If these conditions are met, households and local investors and entrepreneurs will make productive decisions through this relevant costing strategy and will contribute resources that promote microeconomic development. Relevant costing is thereby vindicated as a valuable concept, in attempts to unravel besetting complexities in the migration–development nexus.

Dream to Me by Megan Paasch

Reviewed by: Dream to Me by Megan Paasch Natalie Berglind Paasch, Megan Dream to Me. Feiwel, 2023 [384p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781250817051 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781250817068 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 8-12 After the death of her paramedic father, Eva Sylvan and her older half-sister/legal guardian Rhonda move from NYC to her dad’s rural hometown, where a mysterious great aunt bequeathed her a creepy estate. Financial issues and the decrepit state of the inherited house are just the beginning of Eva and Rhonda’s problems—the Sylvan name evokes glares and sideways looks from the townspeople. Eva begins to have hyper-realistic dreams about individual townspeople who then, horribly, become comatose. She eventually discovers a link between the town’s dark secret and her own family, and Eva might find a way to stop the comas if she can harness her dream powers. Paasch’s debut brings refreshing originality to a familiar horror premise, in which a reluctant new resident must contend with a town’s shady past. Eva grappling with grief over her father is heartbreaking, realistic, and tied into every action that she takes in his hometown while the conflicts that arise with Rhonda taking on a parental role make both characters painfully genuine. The dream magic itself is twisty and creepy, exactly as dream magic should be, and the mystery of Miriam’s past and Eva’s magic unfolds at the perfect pace to give readers time to get to know the town’s inner workings before devastating plot twists. The backdrop of eerie woods, the dream magic, and the fluid prose make this novel a solid read for Maggie Stiefvater fans. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Liveability under shrinkage: initiatives in the ‘capital of pessimism’ in Finland

ABSTRACT This article focuses on local initiatives and the agency of residents in the shrinking town of Puolanka in northern Finland. Structural opportunities and constraints shape individual and collective agency in the community, as they steer how people create and develop initiatives. We discuss how local initiatives impact the sense of place among those who would like to stay in their rural hometown. A group of local activists facetiously market Puolanka as the ‘most pessimistic town’ in the world, turning shrinkange, decay, and pessimism into the town's brand. Beyond the pessimism brand several other initiatives, which are either created by engaged local residents or are municipality-led, are revitalizing and enhancing the liveability of Puolanka. By applying ethnographic research methods, we aim to show how initiatives improve the well-being and contribute to the place perception of residents. Such initiatives create jobs, albeit usually in small numbers, improve the physical space, stabilize the sense of community and can bring hope to a place characterized by increasing abandonment, decay, and the loss of local services.

Demographics and medical school exposures to rural health influence future practice

BackgroundOne-fifth of the US population lives in rural areas. A record number of rural hospitals have closed, creating increased burdens on regional centers and delays in care. This study aimed to assess medical student perceptions of rural surgery and health care, and to elucidate influential factors for future practice. MethodsWe administered a survey to medical schools throughout Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. The survey was designed and evaluated by a survey content expert and piloted among a group of students. Student and faculty liaisons disseminated the survey between February and May 2021. Descriptive analysis of data was completed using Stata v.16.1 (StataCorp, LLC, College Station, TX). ResultsThe respondents included 700 medical students; 59.5% were female, with an equal distribution across medical school classes. More than 98% of students believe we “lack” or “are in great need of” rural health care providers, as well as rural surgeons; however, more than half of the students did not agree that the rural workforce is declining. Only 15.7% of students reported an interest in “pursuing a future career in a rural setting.” Students with exposure to rural health care, coming from a rural hometown, or having a dependent had a positive association with interest in pursuing rural practice. ConclusionAlthough students are aware of the lack of rural surgeons and health care providers, there remains an educational deficit. Expanding exposure to rural health care and surgery while in medical school may increase the number of students interested in pursuing a career in a rural setting, potentially shrinking the rural workforce gap.

Ten years of graduates: A cross-sectional study of the practice location of doctors trained at a socially accountable medical school.

The study predicted practice location of doctors trained at a socially accountable medical school with education programs in over 90 communities. A cross-sectional study examined practice location 10 years after the first class graduated from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), Canada. Exact tests and logistic regression models were used to assess practice location in northern Ontario; northern Canada; or other region; and rural (population <10,000) or urban community. There were 435 doctors with 334 (77%) practising as family doctors (FPs), 62 (14%) as generalist specialists and 39 (9%) as other medical or surgical specialists. Approximately 92% (128/139) of FPs who completed both UG and PG at NOSM practised in northern Ontario in 2019, compared with 63% (43/68) who completed only their PG at NOSM, and 24% (30/127) who completed only their UG at NOSM. Overall, 37% (23/62) of generalist specialists and 23% (9/39) of other specialists practised in northern Ontario. Approximately 28% (93/334) of FPs practised in rural Canada compared with 4% (4/101) of all other specialists. FP northern Ontario practice was predicted by completing UG and PG at NOSM (adjusted odds ratio = 46, 95% confidence interval = 20-103) or completing only PG at NOSM (15, 6.0-38) relative to completing only UG at NOSM, and having a northern Ontario hometown (5.3, 2.3-12). Rural Canada practice was predicted by rural hometown (2.3, 1.3-3.8), completing only a NOSM PG (2.0, 1.0-3.9), and age (1.4, 1.1-1.8). This study uniquely demonstrated the interaction of two mechanisms by which medical schools can increase the proportion of doctors' practices located in economically deprived regions: first, admit medical students who grow up in the region; and second, provide immersive UG and PG medical education in the region. Both mechanisms have enabled the majority of NOSM-trained doctors to practise in the underserved region of northern Ontario.

Gender-Differentiated Poverty among Migrant Workers: Aggregation and Decomposition Analysis of the Chinese Case for the Years 2012–2018

The relative poverty statuses of female and male migrant workers are complex: (i) as a group, migrant workers are relatively better off than their rural hometown fellow residents but are deprived compared to the long-term residents of the cities to which they have immigrated, and (ii) gender differences exist between female and male subgroups, resulting from the interaction of gender bias and empowerment. The former can be further decomposed into characteristic-led bias and bias arising from discrimination. However, little is known about the different facets of gender-differentiated poverty that pose challenges for migrant workers. This study used data collected from Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) during the period 2012–2018 to address this research deficiency. This study conducted a poverty aggregation using a multidimensional relative poverty index system based on the Alkire and Foster (A–F) method to offer an overview of the gender differences in the overall relative poverty statuses of Chinese migrant workers. Further, to validate the existence of gender bias, this study conducted a decomposition analysis based on unconditional quantile regression (UCQR) of the explanatory model of relative poverty. The results of the combination of the aggregation and decomposition analysis data imply that, despite the gender discrimination that female migrant workers encounter, they are generally better off than male migrant workers due to their slight characteristic-led advantages and, more importantly, their autonomous poverty reduction activities. This study theoretically contributes to an in-depth understanding of gender differences in migrant workers’ relative poverty. In addition, this study advocates more targeted and sustainable poverty reduction solutions. For instance, more targeted payment transfer and long-term (vocational development, entrepreneurship, and lifestyle) empowering projects should be highlighted.

Mid-career graduate practice outcomes of the James Cook University medical school: key insights from the first 20 years.

Previous studies have demonstrated early-career James Cook University (JCU) medical graduates are more likely to practise in regional, rural and remote areas than other Australian medical practitioners. This study investigates whether these non-metropolitan practice location outcomes continue into mid-career, and identifies the key underlying demographic, selection process, curriculum and postgraduate training factors associated with JCU graduates choosing to currently practise in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia. This study used the JCU medical school's graduate tracking database to identify 2019 Australian practice location data for 931 JCU medical graduates across postgraduate years (PGY) 5-14. This data was sourced primarily from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, and then categorised into Modified Monash Model (MMM) rurality classifications using the Department of Health's DoctorConnect website. For these mid-career (PGY5-14) cohorts, multinominal logistic regression was undertaken to identify specific demographic, selection process, undergraduate training and postgraduate career variables found to be associated with a 2019 practice location in a regional city (MMM2), large to small rural town (MMM3-5) or remote community (MMM6-7). Additional multinominal logistic regression analysis was then used to determine the key independent predictors of mid-career JCU medical graduates working in regional cities (MMM2), rural towns (MMM3-5) and remote communities (MMM6-7) in 2019. Around one-third of mid-career (PGY5-14) JCU medical graduates were working in regional cities during 2019, mostly in North Queensland, with a further 14% in rural towns and 3% in remote communities. These first 10 cohorts were undertaking careers in general practice (n=300, 33%), as subspecialists (n=217, 24%), rural generalists (n=96, 11%), generalist specialists (n=87, 10%) or hospital non-specialists (n=200, 22%). Key statistically significant, independent predictors of JCU MBBS graduates practising in MMM3-5 and MMM6-7 locations in 2019 were, respectively, being awarded a rurally bonded Australian Government undergraduate Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship (MRBS) (p=0.004, prevalence odds ratio (POR)=3.5; p=0.017, POR=7.3); graduation from the JCU postgraduate general practice training program, JCU General Practice Training (p=0.001, POR=3.9; p<0.001, POR=20.1) and internship training in a hospital located in a regional city (p=0.003, POR=2.4; p=0.049, POR=4.3) or in a rural or remote town (p=0.033, POR=5.0; p=0.002, POR=54.6). JCU MBBS graduates practising in MMM3-5 locations was also predicted by a rural hometown at application to the medical school (p=0.021, POR=2.5) and choosing a career in general practice (p<0.010, POR=4.4) or in rural generalism (p<0.001, POR=26.4), while JCU MBBS graduates practising in MMM6-7 locations was also predicted by undertaking an extended 20- or 35-week undergraduate rural placement during year 6 (p=0.014, POR=8.9). The findings show positive outcomes from the first 10 cohorts of JCU medical graduates for regional Queensland cities, with a significantly higher proportion of mid-career graduates practising in regional areas of Queensland than the percentage of the overall Queensland population. The proportion of JCU medical graduates practising in smaller regional and remote towns is similar to the overall Queensland population. The recent establishment of the postgraduate JCU General Practice Training program for vocational generalist medicine training and the Northern Queensland Regional Training Hubs for building local specialist training pathways should further strengthen the retention and recruitment of JCU and other medical graduates across the northern Australia region.

Factors impacting the solo remote placement experiences of undergraduate James Cook University medical students: A mixed-methods pilot study.

To determine the factors impacting the experiences of James Cook University medical students on solo placements in remote towns. This 2018 pilot study used an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach to explore the recent solo remote placement experiences of James Cook University medical students. Qualitative interviews were performed initially to elicit context sensitive themes for the self administered survey. The survey went on to use Likert-scale questions in addition to pre-validated survey instruments. Focus groups and interviews took place at James Cook University Medical School in Townsville in late 2018 after students returned from their rural rotation. Two telephone interviews were conducted for Year 6 students unable to attend the focus groups. James Cook University medical students in years 2, 4 and 6 students who experienced a solo placement in a remote (MMM 6 or 7) town during 2017 or 2018 were invited to be part of the study. Only Townsville-based students were involved. A total of 14 students participated in the focus groups (n=14) and a further 31 students completed the survey (n=31). Interviews identified themes negatively or positively impacting solo remote placement experience, while bivariate analysis identified factors associated with having an 'excellent' overall experience. Student interviews identified five main themes impacting student experience in remote communities: culture of the medical facility; quality and quantity of clinical experiences; quality of accommodation; placement length; and community infrastructure and services. Negative impacts could result in students experiencing social isolation. Students reporting an 'excellent' solo remote placement experience in the survey were more likely to have: felt very welcome in the community; felt the health staff supported them; heavily involved themselves in clinical activities; enjoyed the experiences remote communities can offer; positive rural career intentions; reported they 'bounce back during and after life's most stressful events'; and come from a rural or remote hometown. Solo remote placements provide medical students with opportunities to further knowledge, clinical capabilities, social experiences and careers, but can have negative aspects. However, negative aspects are often modifiable management issues or can potentially be avoided if prospective students are better informed of the challenges associated with remote communities.

The Role of New Media in the Identity Transformation of the New Generation of Migrant Workers

The new generation of migrant workers has become a large population in China. After leaving their rural hometown and entering big cities, they face the challenge of identity transformation. As an indispensable component of modern life, the rapidly developing new media plays an important role in their adaptation and integration into urban life. This research examines how and to what extent new media facilitates the identity transformation of the new generation of migrant workers by conducting qualitative interviews. It is found that although new media can help the new generation of migrant workers realize the transformation in job hunting, daily life, entertainment, social life and education, the effect on helping them break through the identity barrier is still limited. New media’s different role in their material life and spiritual life, changes in their use of new media after coming to cities, and their motivations for using new media have been discussed as well.

Medical student volunteerism and interest in working with underserved and vulnerable populations

BackgroundThe desire of medical students to eventually work with underserved and vulnerable populations (hereafter ‘service interest’), has been shown to be shaped by individual factors including job satisfaction and financial considerations. School-level factors such as required longitudinal primary care experiences and the availability of extracurricular opportunities to work with underserved patients also affect service interest, but little is known about the impact of student volunteer activities.MethodsThis cross-sectional study gathered data from preclinical medical students via an online questionnaire. The data were linked to academic records, deidentified, and analysed using an ordinal logistic regression model with interest in caring ‘primarily for underserved or vulnerable populations’ as the outcome variable.ResultsOf 121 respondents (33% response rate), 24.8% expressed a definite interest, 55.3% expressed possible interest, and 19.9% expressed no service interest. Intent to work with the underserved was not related to age, sex, race/ethnicity, being from a rural hometown, academic qualifications prior to medical school, or anticipated debt at medical school graduation. Students with no service interest had a higher average academic performance in medical school and plans of subspecialising. When considering volunteerism prior to medical school, students in the highest and middle volunteerism tertiles had 5.68 (95% CI: 1.63, 19.81) and 4.34 (1.32, 14.32) times the odds, respectively, of having definite or possible service interest relative to those who were in the lowest volunteerism tertile, after adjusting for potential confounders. Volunteerism in a student-run clinic for the underserved during medical school was not correlated with service interest.ConclusionsMedical schools looking to enroll more students interested in working with underserved or vulnerable populations may choose to emphasise applicant premedical volunteerism record in their admissions decisions.

Dressing Up in Postwar America: Dreams, Experiences, and Embodiment among Female Norwegian Migrants in New York, 1945–1955

97 Dressing Up in Postwar America DREAMS, E XPER I EN CES, A ND EMB ODIMENT AM O N G F EMALE N ORWEGIA N MIGRA NTS I N NEW YORK, 1 945–­1 955 Siv Ringdal After living two years in Brooklyn, Jenny went back to her hometown in Norway for a visit. The young woman who returned to Norway had a different look than the girl who had left in 1947. She had a new hairdo, her clothes were in a different style, and she wore high-­ heeled, peep-­ toe sandals. Jenny can still recall her grandmother’s reaction to her new American shoes: It was sinful to wear this kind of shoes! Her uncle, on the other hand, thought they could be of use. He joked about how she could wear them in the fields the next spring, helping him make small holes in the ground when he was planting his peas.1 Jenny Solaas2 was sixteen years old when she left the peninsula of Lista on the southern coast of Norway for America. The story about her visit to Norway 98 articles a couple of years later is amusing, but it also serves as a demonstration of the core argument of this article . The two years she had lived and worked in Brooklyn had an impact on Jenny in many ways. She had become familiar with the English language and the American job market; she had become acquainted with new kinds of food and leisure activities. However, life in America had also materialized itself on Jenny’s body. Her clothes and shoes were in different colors and designs and her hair was styled in a new fashion . In a similar manner, the two years in New York had also affected Jenny’s habits and body language. She had started to smoke, and high heels demanded a different way of walking than the flat shoes she had worn before she left Norway. Her new appearance provoked her grandmother and amused her uncle, and in this way brought some of the core values of her rural home town to the surface, such as obeying religious norms, and being strong and able to work rather than good looking. Jenny’s new looks challenged these values. In this article, I aim to shed light on the crucial role that body and materiality plays in migration. I will examine this topic through the experiences of a group of young, unmarried women who migrated from the two counties of West and East Agder in the southernmost part of Norway to New York City in the ten years following the Second World War.3 Upon their arrival in America, the young women’s bodies became important tools for dealing with, negotiating, and adapting to their new everyday lives. In this article I will show how the young women used their bodies and the material culture of their surroundings as tools of negotiation—­ between traditional and modern female ideals, between a conservative religious and a more secular way of life, and between the culture of austerity in postwar Norway and the blossoming consumer culture in postwar New York. I will also demonstrate how the young women’s experiences growing up during the Second World Figure 1. Jenny photographed in a photography studio in Brooklyn not long after her arrival in America. The photograph was sent home to a good girlfriend in Norway. Courtesy of Jenny Hansen. 99 dressing up in postwar america War shaped their dreams and expectations in the postwar period. This had an impact on how they encountered, lived, and interpreted their new lives in America. The bodily and material perspectives presented here were first introduced in my PhD dissertation in cultural history, which later formed the basis of my book På høye hæler i Amerika (On high heels in America), published in 2018.4 The most important source material, in both the thesis and book, was qualitative interviews with some of the women who left their hometowns and villages in Agder and went to New York City in the two decades following the Second World War. Some of them left their homes permanently, while others returned to Norway after...

Intended rural career modalities of final-year James Cook University medical students.

Geographic mal-distribution towards urban over rural medical practice exists worldwide. The James Cook University medical school has focused its selection and curriculum on selecting and training students to address medical workforce needs for local regional, rural and remote areas. This study investigates final-year James Cook University medical students' intended rural practice modality and association with rurality of upbringing. Cross-sectional survey of final-year James Cook University medical students in 2018 (n=147; response rate=76%). Association between students' rurality of hometown at entry to medical school and self-reported intentions for rural practice. Overall, final-year students' preferred rural practice modality was "for a specific number of years" (38, 25%), followed by "periodic short-term locum" (33, 23%), "permanently based" (26, 18%), "orbiting" (21, 14%), "none" (14, 10%), "long-term shared position" (9, 6%) and "specialist outreach clinics" (6, 4%). Urban hometown at entry to medical school was associated with students preferring periodic rural practice, with rural-origin students contrastingly preferring more permanent rural practice. Only 10% of James Cook University medical students did not want a rural career in any form, suggesting the majority, regardless of urban or rural hometown, are open to some type of rural practice. Urban-origin medical students around Australia might be a significant, untapped resource for periodic and more permanent rural practice if they can be provided with extended, immersive rural placements experiences. Government funding models should provide increased funding for immersive rural placements, and promotion of orbiting and longer-term job share practice modalities.

Academic performance and peer relations among rural‐to‐urban migrant children in Beijing: Do social identity and self‐efficacy matter?

AbstractDue to the household registration system, millions of rural‐to‐urban migrant children in China are ineligible to receive urban social welfare benefits. These children potentially suffer from the evolving awareness of their perceived inferior social identity and experiences of inequalities at an early stage of life. This study examined whether self‐perceived social identity is related to academic performance and peer relations among rural‐to‐urban migrant children in Beijing. Data were collected from 136 children during 2013 and 2014 in three schools for migrant children in Beijing. Path analysis showed that children who identified as a Beijinger, compared with those who self‐identified with their rural hometown, had better self‐efficacy, which in turn was associated with better academic performance and better peer relations. Enlightened by Western theories, these findings suggest that migrant children’s performance in school could be enhanced by cultivating positive perceptions of their social identity through teachers’ practice and community‐ and policy‐level social support.

Influence of the Left-Behind Experience on Self-Efficacy of College Students.

The left-behind experience refers to the experience of children who were taken care of by caregivers in their hometowns for ≥6 months before reaching age 18, as one or both parents left the rural hometown for better paying jobs in bigger cities. The current study was conducted with college students to test the effect of the left-behind experience on self-efficacy. The General Self-Efficacy Scale and a questionnaire designed by the authors were adopted for a survey of 200 Chinese college students in their final year of university. Of 200 students, 72 (36%) students had ≥6 months of left-behind experience before reaching age 18. Results did not show statistically significant difference in self-efficacy between college students with or without left-behind experience (p > 0.05). In addition, researchers found no significant difference in self-efficacy between college students with left-behind experience from different backgrounds. Further research and focus on this area is necessary. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, xx(x), xx-xx.].

Understanding career development amongst immigrant youth in a rural place

There is little research into the career trajectories and occupational aspirations of rural youth with immigrant backgrounds in Europe. This article presents new research based on field observations and interviews with five young immigrants of Persian descent in one rural town in Sweden. The findings highlighted gender differences in how the research participants felt their immigrant background would shape their future career plans and aspirations. The boys anticipated that by staying in the local town they might experience less of the stigma that they knew immigrants in urban areas often face. In contrast, the girls did not think of their rural home town as the best place to establish a career. One of the girls also spoke of an ambition to divide her working life between her new homeland and her family’s country of origin. The analysis stresses the importance of an intercultural understanding of both the local and the global when counselling immigrant youth in rural areas regarding their career choices.

Prostitution, variegated homes, and the practice of unhomely life in China

This paper studies a group of female sex workers and their ambivalent experiences of home in Dongguan, China’s so-called sin city, before the local government technically cracked down on the city’s sex industry in 2014. It has two objectives. First, we explore these workers’ life journey: spatially from their rural hometown to Dongguan, socially from domestic migrants to sex workers, and subjectively from poor persons to extravagant spenders. Through this journey-based perspective, we show that the departure from one home opens a door to another home, but the door to the sex industry engulfs our respondents into a perpetual condition of unhomely life. Second, we analyze sex workers’ practices of (un)homely life in various spaces of working (sauna), dwelling (rented apartment), and consumption (shopping center) in Dongguan and their imagination of a new home. We argue that home is a liminal space of ambivalent experiences that revolve around dichotomous distinctions between privacy and publicity, friendship and segregation, marginalization and belonging. This paper contributes to the critical geographies of home by incorporating these ambivalent experiences of home into sex workers’ life journey of leaving and making home in the context of China.