Association between nurses’ education about research and their research use

Knowledge about research methods, skills for critical appraisal of research reports, and a positive attitude towards research have been identified as means to potentially overcome barriers to individual nurses’ research utilization, and ultimately improve nursing practice. The objective of this study was to examine independent relationships between nurses’ education about research and research use and their attitudes towards research, knowledge about research and research utilization. Research utilization and attitude towards research were measured using the Edmonton Research Orientation Scale. One hundred and seventy-five nurses working in a pediatric hospital responded to the survey. Higher levels of education were associated with both (1) positive attitudes towards research and (2) higher levels of self-reported research utilization. Whether or not nurses had university education, completing a course about research design or a course about how to read and use research was associated with positive attitudes towards research. Having completed a course about how to read and use research was not associated with self-reported research utilization. The association between having completed a course about research design and self-reported research utilization was not independent of the association between level of education and research utilization. The findings indicate that education about research may be one way to overcome negative attitudes towards research as a barrier to research utilization.