A COMPARISON OF RESEARCH UTILIZATION AMONG RURAL AND URBAN NURSES WORKING IN ACUTE CARE SETTINGS

Abstract

<p>The purposes of this study are to compare the differences in research utilization among rural and urban nurses working in acute care hospitals and to examine the individual and contextual factors that may be associated with the differences. A quantitative research designed was used to compare the responses of 220 nurses (109 rural and 111 urban) working in a Local Health Integrated Network in South West Ontario, Canada. Data were collected using a modified version of Estabrooks’ (1997) self-report, mail-in, Research Utilization Survey. Results from the data analysis are discussed. Rural and urban nurses reported similar conceptual, instrumental, and persuasive research utilization (RU), with conceptual RU being the most commonly used form. However, rural nurses reported using overall RU significantly less than their urban counterparts did.</p> <p>Rural nurses reported having less access to organizational champions and resources, such as library research journals and computers, than nurses in urban practice had. An analysis of the association between the individual and contextual variables and overall RU indicates that approximately 26% of variance in nurses’ overall RU scores can be predicted from the variance in scores of the following variables: (a) positive RU attitude, (b) organizational relationships supportive of RU, (c) level of competence, and (d) location of nurses. The findings support a multi-dimensional conceptualization of RU and the merits of exploring individual factors as well as organizational and environmental context in future research, theory development, and implementation of strategies to promote RU among nurses.</p>