Children's nursing in Ireland: barriers to, and facilitators of, research utilisation

A random sample of 200 RSCNs on the An Bord Altranais Live Register Nurses were surveyed in this study that aimed to provide a better understanding of barriers to, and facilitators of, research utilisation among RSCNs in the Republic of Ireland. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire 1 using the Barriers Scale (Funk et al I991), adapted from the Conduct and Utilisation of Research in Nursing (CURN) Project Research Utilisation Questionnaire (Crane et al 1977). The scale consists of structured items that measure barriers to research utilisation under four headings; the adopter (RSCN)--eight variiables; the organisation (setting)--eight variables; the innovation (research utilisation)--six variables; and communication (presentation)--six variables. The most frequently cited barrier was lack of time to implement new ideas. All eight characteristics of the organisation feature in the ten highest barriers, with characteristics of adopter and innovation ranking among the five lowest barriers. No significant impact of demographic detail was noted for respondents in relation to each of the subscales.