About

What is Rural-IST?

Rural-IST is an Implementation Support Toolkit for rural service providers. The Toolkit provides practical, evidence-based resources to support the delivery of health and wellbeing programs in ways that best suit local community needs and infrastructure. 

Why do we need Rural-IST? 

One third of older Australians live in rural areas, where health outcomes are significantly worse than in urban settings. While evidence-based interventions exist to support health and wellbeing in later life, they are often developed for metropolitan settings. Assumptions about the availability of local resources and infrastructure can make it difficult for these programs to be implemented and sustained in rural communities. Rural-IST bridges this gap by offering tools that empower rural providers to tailor programs for effective implementation in their local community.  

The Rural-IST journey so far  

We are working with experts in rural health and service delivery to translate our research into practical tools to support real-world implementation of health programs. By providing accessible, evidence-based resources, Rural-IST facilitates the adaptation and delivery of sustainable health interventions in rural settings.