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Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to understand the influence of individual attitudes, perceived capabilities and context on evidence informed practice.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to identify strategies to effectively implement and evidence informed practice change in an acute care setting.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether adding context among those variables derived from the TPB enhances prediction of nurses’ behavioural intentions to adopt an evidence-informed practice change.
Methods: Following an educational intervention aimed at teaching nurses the use of a tool for assessing patient anxiety, 174 participants (70% of those attending the educational classes) completed a survey measuring (1) attitude, ( 2) subjective norm, (3) perceived behavioural control, (4) context, and (5) intention to perform anxiety assessments.
Results: Intention to perform anxiety assessments on patients was greater for nurses who (a) perceived that they had control over performing anxiety assessments, (b) had a positive attitude toward providing such assessments, and (c) perceived their work context to be positive.
Conclusion: This study adds to our understanding of the variables influencing nurses’ adoption of evidence-informed practices. Context, defined in terms of leadership, culture, and evaluation, appears to influence individual adoption of evidence-based practices. These results suggest that the success of attempts to encourage health professionals to adopt evidence-based practices will be enhanced when contextual variables important to the success of the change intervention are put into place. Future research can build on the current study by seeking to replicate the findings reported here and expanding the list of contextual variables investigated.