Identifying Barriers to Research Dissemination in a Developing Country: A Follow-Up Study

A research project is really not completed unless the findings have been communicated to others (Nieswiadomy, 2012).Research dissemination and knowledge utilization are essential components of today's nursing practice. It was evident from researchers teaching experience both in India and United States that the nursing institutions in the US are far advanced in disseminating the research results to scientific community compared to India. Later, a study was conducted to assess the research dissemination details in a selected nursing school of India. The results of the study revealed that the nursing research dissemination process is not intense at various levels of educational preparation. The findings of the study were presented during Sigma Theta Tau International's 23rd International Nursing Research Congress.

Many researchers have reported barriers to nursing research dissemination in the literature (Miller and Messenger, 1978; Funk, 1995; Hutchinson, 2006; Dunn, 2007).To maximize the benefits of nursing research and the delivery of high quality care, it is important to develop a project that enhance the process of identifying the barriers in developing, conducting, disseminating and utilizing nursing research. As a first step towards implementing this project, Nursing Research Society of India(NRSI) came forward and organized a three day national conference under the theme of, “Closing the Gap: From Evidence to Action” during October 2012 in New Delhi. The conference was successful in creating awareness among nurse scholars regarding the importance of communication and utilization of research findings. Further, NRSI created a web announcement for all colleges of nursing inviting the list of research studies conducted. The intent is to create a database for nursing studies.

The next direction of our project would be to identify barriers and facilitators in the research dissemination process. Further, the project would focus on developing strategies to improve nursing research dissemination and utilization through collaborative efforts.