Attitude of Health Science Students Towards Working in Rural Areas from Colleges of Kathmandu

Abstract

Introduction: The lack of healthcare professionals has been a drawback for the rural health system in Nepal. Students in the final year of health science studies represent the future workforce in the healthcare sector. Understanding final year students’ attitudes can help improve rural health workforce planning. This study aimed to assess the attitude towards working in rural areas among undergraduate health science students.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 193 undergraduate final year health science students studying MBBS, BNS, Pharmacy, and BPH in Maharajgunj Medical Campus, Maharajgunj Nursing Campus, and the Central Department of Public Health. A consecutive sampling technique was used to select the sample. Data was collected with a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 using descriptive statistics, frequency, percent, mean, standard deviation, median, quartiles, and range, and inferential statistics, Chi-square and Fisher exact tests for association between attitude and selected variables.

Results: The study found that 83.4% of respondents had a positive attitude and 16.6% respondents had a negative attitude toward working in rural areas. A significant association was found between attitude and birthplace (p=0.036), fathers’ education (p=0.006), mothers’ education (p=0.047), and motivation from relatives in rural health service (p=0.010).

Conclusion: Majority of students had a positive attitude toward rural practice. While most students recognize the importance of working in rural areas, a considerable number of students have a negative attitude towards serving people who live in rural areas. There is a needs to motivate students through near to graduation through the provision of facilities and the strong implementation of the scholarship bonding policy by government.