Improving job satisfaction of rural South Dakota mental health providers through education: a pilot study.

Many underserved rural areas of South Dakota are plagued by high turnover of mental health providers, and need to develop retention strategies through improving job satisfaction. A major source of job dissatisfaction in rural areas is professional isolation (lack of continuing education opportunities and inadequate number of peers available for professional interaction). The authors developed and implemented interdisciplinary educational programs to improve job satisfaction (and possibly job retention) of rural mental health providers (RMHPs) through reduced professional isolation. The outcome data showed a significant improvement over the 3 year project period on measures of professional isolation. We suggest that strategic educational programs can be successful in reducing turnover of mental health professionals.