Nursing students' attitudes toward research and development within nursing: Does writing a bachelor thesis make a difference?

• Published in: International journal of nursing practice 2017-04, Vol.23 (2), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Uysal Toraman, Aynur, Hamaratçılar, Güler, Tülü, Begüm, Erkin, Özüm
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; attitude; Attitude of Health Personnel; Awareness; bachelor thesis; Dissertations & theses; Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; Female; Humans; Male; Medical education; Nursing; Nursing education; Nursing Education Research; nursing students; Questionnaires; R&D; Recruitment; Research & development; Research nurses; Self report; Student attitudes; Student writing; Students, Nursing - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Turkey; Writing; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1322-7114; 1440-172X
• DOI: 10.1111/ijn.12517

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of writing a bachelor's thesis on nursing students' attitudes towards research and development in nursing. The study sample consisted of 91 nursing students who were required to complete a bachelor's thesis and 89 nursing students who were not required to complete a bachelor's thesis. Data were collected via self‐report questionnaire that was distributed in May and June 2012. The questionnaire comprised 3 parts: (1) demographic items; (2) questions about “scientific activities,” and (3) the nursing students' attitudes towards and awareness of research and development within nursing scale (version 2). The mean age of the students was 23 (1.3) years. The students who wrote a bachelor's thesis achieved a median score of 110.0, whereas the students in the other group had a median score of 105.0 on the scale. All the items were assigned a 3 or higher. A statistically significant difference was found between the 2 groups in their attitudes towards and awareness of research (U = 3265.5; P = .025). The results of this study suggest that writing a thesis in nursing education has a positive influence on nursing students' attitudes towards and awareness of research and development in nursing. SUMMARY STATEMENT What we already know? The role of nurses as researchers has largely centred on nurses who have received research education at a certain level. What this study adds? Writing a bachelor's thesis has an influence on nursing students' involvement in scientific activities. The implications of the study: Writing a bachelor's thesis has an influence on nursing students' attitudes towards research and development in nursing.