[Nursing research in Finland from 1950s to the present]

In Finland nursing education and research in universities was established in 1979. Research in nursing, however, was done in some amount even before in other disciplines and in the Institute of Nursing Research. In this article, nursing research during 1958-1995 is described, based on the articles in the Finnish Yearbook of Nursing (1958-1988), in the Journal of Nursing Science (Hoitotiede, 1989-1995) and academic licentiate and doctoral dissertations. The analysis indicates strong growth of nursing research in Finland since 1950s. The content of research is multidimensional. The nature of research is quantitative and descriptive; many of the doctoral dissertations in 1990s are qualitative. The research interest has been mainly the patient. Articles in research methods and concept analysis are rare.