What can be done to improve access to family and relationships services for people in RRR Australia?
Service re-engineering to foster recruitment and retention offers potentially the most significant gains for building effective and sustainable service models. There is a plethora of literature identifying the factors that contribute to rural workforce shortage (e.g., Battye et al., 2006; CWA/FaCSIA, 2006; Queensland Rural Medical Support Agency, 2004; Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health, 2000), and these can be summarised into three domains: • professional issues (e.g., job dissatisfaction, overload/burnout, professional isolation, lack of support and training, burden of rural travel, inadequate orientation to rural/Indigenous practice, lack of adequate remuneration, inflexible award conditions); • personal factors (e.g., housing, partner employment issues, access to quality childcare/education); and • community factors (e.g., establishment of social networks, local facilities). In a landmark study of Australian rural social workers, Lonne and Cheers (2004) found th
