Method: For this study, 360 nursing students from the BSPN and BSN programs were recruited using purposive sampling. All student nurses within the community college were eligible to participate; the only exclusion criteria were the final semester of preceptorship students as they were not accessible on campus during the period of data collection. Consenting research participants were given a 15 item questionnaire to complete. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected. Quantitative results were analyzed using Microsoft Excel, SPSS and qualitative responses were analyzed for themes.
Results: In total, 360 student nurses participated with 43% (156) from the BSPN and 57% (204) from the BSN program. Most of the participants identified as female 83% (299), with only 17% (57) identifying as male. Participants were mostly between ages 19-45. The most common challenge that was identified for both the BSN and BSPN programs was a lack of time (m=4.34 ± 0.92). The other two commonly identified barriers were not enough incentives (m=3.50 ± 1.20) and lack of integration into the curriculum (m=3.39 ± 1.22). Common themes from qualitative responses reiterated that time, incentives, support and knowledge about participation in research were challenges faced by nursing students in regard to research participation.
Implications: A similar report from Bäck-Pettersson, Jensen, Kylén, Sernert, and Hermansson, (2013) found that that more should be done to identify barriers and challenges to nursing students’ research participation. Identification of barriers that nursing students face will contribute to the body of knowledge aimed at equipping pre-registration or student nurses with the information and skill necessary for research participation and provision of evidence-based care. It will also allow for further research into strategies for overcoming barriers to increase students’ research participation. Finally, these findings can be used to inform the development of curriculum to encourage and support nursing students’ participation in research and other scholarly activities.