Paper
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Instruments for Measuring Beliefs About and Implementation of EBP
Ellen Fineout-Overholt, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, School of Nursing, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
| Learning Objective #1: Describe potential uses for an instrument to measure beliefs about EBP |
| Learning Objective #2: Describe potential uses for an instrument to measure implementation of EBP |
Theoretical Framework: Control Theory (Carver, 1979; Carver & Scheier, 1983) postulates that a discrepancy between a goal (e.g., EBP) and a current state (e.g., current practice) precipitates behaviors that will assist the individual in reaching the goal. Often, barriers exist that hinder an individual’s ability to implement these behaviors (e.g., uncertainty about how to reach the goal, lack of knowledge/skills, poor outcomes expectancy, beliefs that one cannot reach the goal). Instruments for Measuring Beliefs About and Implementation of EBP: Two new instruments were specifically designed to help identify and remove such barriers so that nurses could reach the goal of implementing EBP, the EBPB (EBP Belief Scale) and the EBPI (EBP Implementation Scale). These instruments have been given to over 200 nurses, including faculty, students and clinicians. The two instruments were created for a pilot study in which an EBP mentor was the change agent for practice. The psychometric data from these instruments indicate that these tools will be useful in further EBP research. The 16-item EBPB measures practitioners’ beliefs about their ability to implement EBP. Respondents indicate agreement with each item (e.g., “I believe that EBP results in the best clinical care for patients”) on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree with higher scores indicating more positive beliefs. Respondents to the EBPI answer 15 items about whether they have performed specific evidence-based practices in the previous 8 weeks (e.g., “How often have you discussed evidence from a research study with a colleague?”) on a 5-point Likert-scale (e.g., 0 “not at all” to 4 “very often”). Experts in EBP have established content validity and clarity for both of these scales. The presentation will include instrument development, use in research, and psychometrics.
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Sigma Theta Tau International
July 21, 2004