The Peregrine Centre offered small research grants for projects focused on rural mental health practice in NSW. Here is a summary of one of the projects we have supported as part of our Small Grants scheme.
Project Team: Dr Monica Short, Dr Emma Rush, Dr Nicola Ivory, Dr Ella Dixon, Rohena Duncombe, Sarah Ansell, Yangi Uchalla, Patrick McKenna, and Michelle Bonner
In 2024, a research team from Charles Sturt University, working alongside The Peregrine Centre and partnering organisations undertook qualitative research with non-government organisation (NGO) mental health staff in the Murrumbidgee and Southern LHD areas, NSW, Australia. The goal was to explore what strategies they had experienced to promote recruitment, retention and well-being in rural mental health NGOs and to what extent these had been successful.
Co-operative inquiry is a participatory and inclusive research methodology which supports in-depth conversations, generating original knowledge with real world applications. Co-operative inquiry comprises of four phases which are cycled through iteratively.
The collaborative nature of the project built the capacity of rural mental health practitioners to engage in research practices, and feel more connected to their work. The project also identified contextual factors that influence or inhibit workplaces implementing effective strategies, as well as gaining more of an understanding about the factors that influence the wellbeing, recruitment and retention of rural staff within mental health.
Interested in learning more about research? You could try our Building Research Capacity workbook. You need to have a Peregrine Portal account, however sign-up is free.
