Nursing and Midwifery Students’ Attitudes Towards Research: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

Background: Some studies found that nurses are not actively involved in research. To address this issue, it is important to investigate the structure of training that nurses got while at school of nursing. To promote evidence-based practice, nursing and midwifery students must be actively involved in research. Several studies have reported on the attitude of nursing students towards research in different countries. However, no study has assessed attitude of both nursing and midwifery students towards research in Nigeria, using a valid and reliable measure- attitude towards research scale. Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess diploma nursing and midwifery students’ attitude towards research, and their participation in research-related activities. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional design was used to conduct the study, where 91 nursing and midwifery students who were purposively selected, provided data for the study. Students in graduating classes were included in the study. Papanastasiou’s (2005) Attitude Towards Research scale questionnaire was adopted and used to collect data from participants. Ethical approvals were received from research ethics committee at School of Nursing Ilaro and research ethics committees at other participating institutions. Results: Majority of participants were females, and nursing students. Most participants agreed that research was useful in their career. However, they perceived research to be stressful, complicated, difficult and a complex subject. About 63% of participants had positive attitude towards research while 37% have negative attitude. Nonetheless, only 39% participated in research-related activities. Conclusions: Students’ participation in research-related activities was low. Nursing and midwifery faculties should adopt measures including research workshops, seminars, and conferences to improve student participation in research.

Being a Postgraduate Nursing Student in Limpopo Province, South Africa: An Exploratory Study

“…Similar findings were found in the study by Amoo and Gbadamosi, where only 37% of participants said they enjoyed conducting research since many of them thought it was stressful, challenging, and about a complex subject [ 39 ]. There is a need to reinforce postgraduate nursing research education as it can positively affect nurses’ attitudes toward nursing research, resulting in better patient treatment and care.…”

Anxiety and Attitudes of Midwifery Students Toward Scientific Research

“…In studies conducted with nursing students, it was found that students' anxiety toward conducting research was moderate (Kes & Şahin, 2019) or high (Gerçek et al, 2016;Güleç & Saruhan, 2013). In most of these studies, more than half of the participants affirmed that conducting research made them nervous, anxious and scared (Amoo & Gbadamosi, 2021;Muzzmal et al, 2018). In this study, students got an average score of 23.92 ± 9.29 on the anxiety scale.…”