Perceptions and attitudes of registered nurses to research: a comparison with a previous study

Registered nurses' perceptions of research activities were examined and compared to those of academic nursing students at Tel-Aviv University in a previous paper. The study concentrated on attitudes, role perception, ability and intention to perform those activities in the future. The research activities were: 'read research', 'encourage colleagues to read research', 'apply research findings' and 'initiate research'. It was found that RNs viewed all research activities favourably, but slightly lower, sometimes significantly so, than the academic nursing students. RNs with Masters degrees scored significantly higher than RNs without academic degrees. The multiple regression analysis in both studies showed an interplay between ability to perform research activities and attitudes toward them; where 'ability' was higher, 'attitudes' towards research activities were more positive, and vice versa.