Knowledge and Attitude of Final Year Undergraduate Nursing Students about Research at the University of Technology Jamaica

The importance of research is well acknowledged, nevertheless, students often feel anxious when it comes to research, mostly because of the extensive and conceptual nature of the subject. Research has investigated students' attitudes toward research. Studies have demonstrated that students' perspectives on research can have a substantial influence on their involvement in research endeavors. Some academic fields, such as medical education and pharmacy, have examined the extent of knowledge, attitudes, and practices about research among students. There is a paucity of scholarly studies that specifically examine the attitude of undergraduate nursing students towards research. Therefore, this study examines the knowledge and attitude of final year undergraduate Nursing students about research at the university of Technology Jamaica. The study employed a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional research design. The target population was 116 final year nursing students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the university. Most students, at 85.4%, encountered challenges in locating research articles; (67.4%) participants considered the interpretation of the literature challenging yet 61.8% maintained a favorable attitude towards research. Chapter two of the research project posed the greatest challenge for the respondents throughout the first half of their research, whereas chapter one was the least challenging. According to the survey, 78% of the students reported encountering greater difficulties than they had anticipated when conducting research.