Aspects of Swedish ophthalmic nurses’ attitudes towards research

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore attitudes towards research among a subgroup of Swedish nurses specializing in ophthalmic care and to compare the results with the findings of a similar study from 2001. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 250 Swedish nurses. A factor analysis was performed on the responses to a web-based questionnaire to discern the factors underlying the ophthalmic nurses’ attitudes. Responses to open-ended questions were analysed using content analysis. A five-factor solution accounted for 47% of the cumulative variance, with Cronbach’s alpha values ranging from 0.56 to 0.8. The responses to the open-ended questions indicated that among the nurses interested in conducting research, lack of time was the most prominent cause for not doing so, whereas older age and time constraints were the most important factors for those who were not interested in research, largely consistent with previous studies. Furthermore, the nurses mentioned frustration and bad experiences related to conducting research during their education programmes. Overall, however, the participating ophthalmic nurses were more reluctant to engage in research, perhaps because of their significantly older age compared to a previous study cohort. The results reveal new information implying that further qualitative studies would be beneficial to the planning of nursing education and to the integration of nurses in clinical scientific work.