Staff nurses' attitudes toward nursing research: a descriptive survey

Staff nurse involvement in clinical nursing research is dependent on the attitudes nurses hold toward research. An exploration of these attitudes was undertaken in a 464-bed midwestern teaching hospital as it developed its nursing research procedures. A questionnaire was developed which incorporated the Boothe Attitudes on Nursing Research Scale. All registered nurses (n = 925) at the facility were surveyed with a response rate of 77.8% (n = 720). Findings indicated that many nurses were interested in research and believed that the institution would support research activities and the implementation of research findings. Some deterrences to conducting research included: time, lack of knowledge, and the nurses's perception of the supervisory support and the research support services.