Nursing and midwifery research priorities for Kenya: Results from a national Delphi survey

The International Council of Nurses and the World Health Organization have prioritized evidence-based nursing and midwifery practice derived from nurse-led research. However, in a low-resource country like Kenya, there is a need to identify research priorities to optimize utilization of limited existing research infrastructure and funding. Kenya lacks a nursing and midwifery research strategy to guide research prioritization.

The goal of this study was to identify and describe nursing and midwifery research priorities for Kenya.

A cross-sectional Delphi survey using two iterative rounds of electronic data collection was used to reach a consensus about priorities for nursing and midwifery research in Kenya. NVivo-12 was used to analyze the qualitative data to identify categories, sub-themes, and themes; descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data.

Participants included 159 nurse managers, administrators, and educators representing regional, county, and national referral, private, and faith-based hospitals, nurse training schools, research institutions, and nursing organizations in Kenya. Staffing challenges, motivation, remuneration, and funding for higher education were ranked as the top critically important issues using a cutoff point of ≥ 70% agreement.

There is a need for the development of a National Framework for Nursing and Midwifery Research Priorities in Kenya to guide research that builds excellence in meeting nursing and midwifery human resource concerns and ultimately improves patient care practices and outcomes.

The objective of Kenya's health goals delineated within three key national health documents cannot be attained without adequate numbers of nursing and midwifery professionals and policies that address nursing and midwifery staffing challenges, remuneration for employment, and improved funding for higher education.