Barriers to research utilisation by staff nurses in a university hospital

AIM: To identify self-reported perceptions of the barriers to research utilisation by Turkish staff nurses working in a university hospital and to ascertain whether involvement in research-related activities influenced their perception of the barriers. BACKGROUND: Research utilisation in nursing has been a prominent concern for the last 30 years. While investigators in several countries have identified nurses' perception of barriers to research utilisation, this is the first study to investigate such barriers in Turkey. DESIGN: This is a descriptive, cross sectional study with a sample of 329 staff nurses working in a university hospital. Two instruments were used; a demographics questionnaire that investigated research activities and the Barriers Scale to measure perceptions. An additional item, 'studies are published in English' was added to the scale. RESULTS: The lack of time to implement new ideas was the most frequently, 84·5%, perceived barrier. The second most frequently perceived barrier was difficulty in reading English. The top six barriers were all related to the setting. Additionally, research-active nurses found insufficient time less of a barrier but unawareness of research findings and being isolated from knowledgeable colleagues as greater barriers to research utilisation. CONCLUSIONS: Turkish nurses' perception of barriers is similar to the findings in other countries, i.e., that the top six barriers were related to setting. Language barrier compares similarly with studies in other countries that investigated this variable. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The gap between theory and practice in nursing can be minimised by identifying strategies to increase research utilisation in clinical settings. Such strategies can also improve patient care outcomes.