Research Self-Efficacy and Research-Related Behavior Among Nurses in Qatar: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

AIM: Research self-efficacy helps predict the individual interest and confidence in conducting research. The study was conducted to identify the research self-efficacy among nurses working in a group of tertiary hospitals and their research-related behavior. METHOD: The study design was descriptive cross-sectional and conducted among nurses at Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar Convenient sampling was done and 500 is the sample size. Data were collected through an online survey during 2 months in 2019 by using a validated “Nursing Research Self-Efficacy Scale” questionnaire. The scale includes 38 items under five domains, and the response was collected on a Likert scale from 1 to 5. The authors of the scale suggested excellent reliability score for the subscales, ranging from .94 to .97 and the existence of subscales was supported by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: A completed survey was collected from 780 nurses. The mean self-efficacy score was 2.92 ± 0.97. The mean score for the subscale of obtaining science-based knowledge resources was the highest (3.24 ± 1.03) and the lowest for critically read and evaluate qualitative research literature (2.63 ± 1.12). Nurses with higher educational qualifications and those who enrolled in any educational program further to their nursing education have statistically significantly high research self-efficacy. CONCLUSION: The overall research self-efficacy of working nurses is moderate. However, nurses’ confidence in the ability to perform critiquing research and understand the concept and methodology in research is minimal. Introduction of nurse-tailored research training, which covers fundamental aspects of research to an advanced level, will help make them more confident in research.