Student-led research improving rural reproductive healthcare

Women in rural Victoria continue to experience significant barriers when accessing medical termination of pregnancy services, including limited providers, delays in ultrasound access, and travel-related costs. Medical student Kayla, from Charles Sturt’s School of Rural Medicine explored these challenges through a supervised qualitative study, receiving structured training in research design, ethics applications, interviewing and thematic analysis. Guided by Senior Research Fellow Catherine Keniry, Kayla interviewed nine women to understand how these barriers shaped their experiences.

The study concluded that women face persistent, interrelated structural barriers to medical termination of pregnancy access despite legal availability. This highlighted the need for policy reform, stronger promotion of services, nurse-led models of care and better support for rural practitioners. In response, the project produced a clear referral and care pathway now used by local health services, and funding enabled the purchase of an ultrasound machine, strengthening timely diagnostic access.

This student-led project supports more equitable reproductive healthcare for rural communities.