Paper
Saturday, July 24, 2004
This presentation is part of : Building a Research Community
Attitudinal Challenges to Building a Nursing Research Community
Meg Smirnoff, MS, MPH, RN, FNP, Medicine Care Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, USA, Marjorie S. Ramirez, MA, EdM, RNC, CNA, Patient / Family Education, The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York, NY, USA, Linda Koplimae, BS, RN, Department of Maternal Child Health, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, USA, Hussein Tahan, RN, MS, DNSc, Director of Nursing, Cardiothoracic and Vascular Services, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY, USA, Michael Gibney, MS, RN, CNS, Becton Dickinson, Medical, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA, and Mary Dee McEvoy, PhD, RN, AOCN, Cullman Institute for Patient Care, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Learning Objective #1: Identify nurse-perceived barriers to the conduct of nursing research
Learning Objective #2: Develop evidence-based, corrective interventions that encourage staff participation in research activities and utilization
Objective: Within a diverse community of nurses, conduct a baseline assessment of nurses’ attitudes towards nursing research (NR), their perceptions of the institution as a research environment and personal involvement in research activities.

Design: Descriptive study utilizing a 12-item demographic data sheet and fifty question, reliability-tested and validated survey (Young 1983, revised Chenitz 1985) that measures nurses’ attitudes and perceptions toward NR, the research environment and personal research involvement.

Population, Sample, Setting, Year: Convenience sample of all registered nurses working at a large, urban academic hospital (The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York) during three-month study period in 2000.

Concept/ Variables: Attitudes towards NR.

Methods: Following IRB approval and obtaining support from nursing leadership, the authors and Nurse Managers explained the study to staff on each nursing unit and distributed the surveys. Three weeks later the completed, anonymous surveys were collected. The authors coordinated data analysis.

Findings: 470 nurses completed the survey. (28% of total) They are ethnically/culturally diverse, 75% aged 30-54 yrs, 80% with greater than 10 years nursing experience, 82% baccalaureate-education or higher. 87% think research should guide nursing practice, 82% believe research participation is valuable experience, 50% feel comfortable doing research, fewer than 30% have personal research experience. Institutional and personal factors are identified that correlate with these data.

Conclusions: Although the nurses have a positive attitude towards research, it is discordant with actual involvement with research activities.

Implications: Patient care benefits from evidence-based practice. The literature reports that NR utilization is impacted by nurses’ attitudes. Once identified, focused initiatives can be implemented to effect change in professional practice. This research suggests that positive attitudes and perceived support is not enough to increase involvement in NR; additional institutional infrastructure and educational supports are needed.

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Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004