KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS CONDUCT OF RESEARCH STUDY AMONG NURSES IN UTCH

1.1 Introduction

Research is a systematic investigation into and study of materials and resources to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Nursing research is an organized, specially designed way to formulate knowledge about the problems that are important to nurse in their clinical practice, nursing education, and ward administration. In this time of advancement and technological development research is very essential and it is the source achievement and great success for any individual and organization including health care settings. Nurses have been challenged over recent years to develop practice that is based on the best available research. The practices that represent recent scientific indication and it require that nurses must have knowledge, skills and positive attitude towards research. Several studies have been conducted to explore and understand research and research utilization of nurses. Wilson et al. (2004) surveyed nurses to identify their level of participation in and use of nursing research, their need for research education and areas of research interest.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Clinical research is conducted with great care, and in accordance with ethical and legal regulations. It plays an important role in the development of health services and in the quality of patient care (Downing et al., 2017; Gallin et al., 2012; Grady et al., 2009; Green, 2011). The availability of new treatment options or the improvement of existing treatments can only be achieved through clinical research. Nurses constitute the largest group of health care providers and their care influences patient outcomes (Aiken et al., 2003). Research evidence- based practice (research) is a hallmark of professional nursing practice and high quality patient care (Case, 2004). Research evidenced-based practice is a problem solving approach to the delivery of clinical care that incorporates the best research evidence from well-designed studies along with a clinician’s expertise, and patient preferences (Melnyk et al., 2006).

The success of clinical research depends on the educational levels and competence of clinical research team members and good collaboration among them (Dhodi et al., 2013). A Clinical Research Nurse (CRN) is one of the important members of this multidisciplinary research team. The roles and responsibilities of nurses in clinical research may be varied according to the type of clinical research, and the institutions in which the clinical research is conducted as well as the nurses’ knowledge, education level, and abilities in the areas that they are interested in (Grady et al., 2009; Roll et al., 2013).

Increasing the number of qualified clinical researches is one of the strategic objectives of our country. In order to reach this objective many action plans have been implemented, one of which is the training of CRNs. Clinical research nursing is a new concept in Turkey and standard training programmes, framework and legislation in this subject have not yet been put into practice. There are only a limited number of nurses working as CRNs (Bulut et al., 2016). Therefore, more staff nurses need to be involved in clinical research. Nurses address human responses to alterations or potential alterations in health. A strong policy emphasis on clinical effectiveness means that health care professionals are increasingly called upon to justify the research evidence base for their decisions, both to consumers and those in position to create and support health care policy (French, 2005). Most nursing leaders would agree that research should be “usual and customary” in their organizations (Munroe, Duffy, & Fisher, 2006).

Implementation of new research results is very important to improve nursing practices, providing quality care and for the development of nursing profession as well. By doing research nurses can find out the ways to bring improvement in patient care, can increase the trustworthiness and accountability of their profession and can document the cost effectiveness of patient care (Halabi, 2016). Overall literature is unreliable regarding nurse’s use of research and their attitudes toward it. It is authoritative that nurse educators assess the research climate of their precise nurse population to determine their knowledge and attitude about research.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Knowledge and Attitude Towards Conduct of Research Study among Nurses.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that Nurses have poor knowledge and attitude toward research. This can be an obstacle in the way of increasing the standards of nursing profession and providing quality care to the patients. There are few studies that show data about nurse’s knowledge and attitude about research in our country. So, this problem was assumed to be studied. This is the need of the hour to develop research culture by the organizations and health services centers.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to assess the Knowledge and Attitude towards Conduct of Research Study among Nurses in ESUTH. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To explore factors that influence nurses’ attitudes and beliefs towards research;
2. To examine the nurses’ attitudes and beliefs about research and research evidenced based practice;
3. To determine the level of education influence nurses attitudes and beliefs toward research; and
4. To examine the number of years of experience as a nurse affect nurses’ attitudes and beliefs about research;

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Does number of years of experience as a nurse affect nurses’ attitudes and beliefs about research?
• Do nurses find research easy to understand?
• Do nurses believe the results of the research that they read?
• Does level of education influence nurses attitudes and beliefs toward research?
• Does the size of facility that a nurse works in affect attitudes and beliefs toward research?
• Does the role of a nurse within their facility affect attitudes and beliefs towards research?
• What are nurses’ attitudes and beliefs about research and research evidenced based practice?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There are no significant factors that influence nurses’ attitudes and beliefs towards research
• H1: There are significant factors that influence nurses’ attitudes and beliefs towards research

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1.7 Significance of Study

The significance of this research will help nurses to generate new knowledge, enhance cost savings by convincing a healthier workforce, promotes best decision making and participate in the development of research skills among nurses. Understanding nurses’ attitudes and beliefs towards research has potential to contribute meaningfully to nursing knowledge by providing researchers, educators, and other nursing professionals the foundational knowledge to influence nurses’ interest and use of research evidence in practice.

This study will be of immense benefit to researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of the Study

The scope of the research is focused on the Knowledge and Attitude towards Conduct of Research Study among Nurses in Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH).

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Research: Research is a systematic investigation into and study of materials and resources to establish facts and reach new conclusions.

Nursing: The provision of health care by professional nurses to persons living in sparsely populated areas

Attitude: A mental position with regard to fact or state (Merrium-Webster Medical Dictionary, 2007).

Prevalence: Prevalence is the proportion of a particular population found to be affected by a medical condition at a specific time.