Development of nursing research in Jordan (1986-2012)

To provide an overview of nursing research in Jordan based on the topic researched, source and setting of data collection, methodology, theoretical framework used and source of funding.

Nursing research contributes to nursing education, clinical practice, health policy and the establishment of nursing research priorities in Jordan to guide future research.

Databases such as MEDLINE, CINAHL, Google Scholar, PubMed and national sources were searched for published articles related to nursing in Jordan through a range of keywords. Articles were included in the analysis if they were published in English or Arabic through December 2012.

The search resulted in the identification of 999 publications, from which 462 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. The highest percentage of studies (23% of articles) focused on nursing management issues. Forty-four per cent were conducted in a hospital setting; only six studies used a nursing theory. Seventy-seven per cent of the studies were quantitative and 29.0% were funded mostly by universities. Twenty-one per cent were not directly related to improving nursing education or practice in Jordan. A Jordanian Database for nursing research was developed as a result of this review.

Jordanian nurses have slowly started to build nursing research, the real nursing research work in Jordan started with the return of the first PhD graduate to Jordan in 1986.

Jordanian nurses in collaboration with international colleagues were motivated to publish research and build the body of nursing knowledge.