Nurse Satisfaction With Opportunities to Engage in Research

Nurses should be able to participate in research and integrate evidence from research into practice; however, studies investigating factors related to nurse satisfaction with opportunities to engage in research are lacking. A questionnaire was distributed to nurses employed at two sites: a hospital and a nursing school. Only 16% of nurses reported being satisfied with opportunities to engage in research. In multivariate analysis, degree of belief that resources are a barrier to research was inversely proportional to satisfaction with nursing research opportunities (adjusted odds ratio = 0.13, p < .001), whereas perception that personal relevance is a barrier to research was associated with increased satisfaction (adjusted odds ratio = 2.38, p < .001). Satisfaction with opportunities to engage in research is low. Incentivizing nursing research and providing protected research time, training and education, and mentors to guide nurses through the research process could be effective strategies for increasing satisfaction and research productivity, thereby strengthening evidence-based practice.