How rural immersion training influences rural work orientation of medical students: Theory building through realist evaluation.

Aim: To develop theory about how contexts and mechanisms interact to contribute to openness to future rural practice by medical students undertaking immersive rural training.

Methods: A realist evaluation based on RAMESES II protocol. We interviewed 23 students exploring Contexts (C) which were external (place-based) and internal (the student's characteristics), Mechanisms (M) (that drive a response) and Outcomes (O) (openness to rural work).