They were different and few: an Australian study of midwives' attitudes to research and computerised research...

This study sought to determine factors influencing the utilisation of research findings by Australian midwives before and after exposure to an on-line research database within their practice setting. The setting was a large maternity hospital in South Australia and data were collected via pre and post intervention questionnaires. 14 midwives from the Delivery Suite and Birth Centre of this hospital participated in the study. Midwives showed an increased receptivity to the concept of computerised research findings after exposure to the database. They rated research as highly important to providing quality midwifery care and for the midwifery profession, and saw midwives as the key players in maternity care research. These findings are not in keeping with previous research--largely accounted for, we believe, by the particular, and small number of, midwives who volunteered to participate in the study (24% of those invited).