Nurse involvement in research is essential to the expansion of nursing science and improved care for patients. The research participation challenges encountered by nurses providing direct care (direct care nurses) include balancing patient care demands with research, adjusting to fluctuating staff and patient volumes, working with interdisciplinary personnel, and feeling comfortable with their knowledge of the research process. The purpose of this paper is to describe efforts to engage nurses in research for the Stories and Music for Adolescent/Young Adult Resilience during Transplant (SMART) study. SMART was an NIH-funded, multisite, randomized, behavioral clinical trial of a music therapy intervention for adolescents/young adults (AYA) undergoing stem cell transplant for an oncology condition. The study was conducted at 8 sites by a large multidisciplinary team that included direct care nurses, advanced practice nurses, and nurse researchers, as well as board-certified music therapists, clinical research coordinators, and physicians. Efforts to include direct care nurses in the conduct of this study fostered mutual respect across disciplines in both academic and clinical settings. 1. Introduction Over the years, there have been many recommendations to close the research/practice gap, including efforts to increase the availability and applicability of the evidence for practice through the involvement of direct care nurses on research teams [1–5]. Academic nurse researchers have had an important role in advancing evidence-based practice; unfortunately, direct care nurses are frequently absent from the research team [6]. The American Nurses Association (ANA) advocates nurse involvement in research, stating, “all nurses working alone or in collaboration with others can participate in the advancement of the profession through the development, evaluation, dissemination, and application of knowledge in practice” [7]. Having opportunities to observe and engage in ongoing research is the key to encourage nurses’ participation in research [6]. Yet, full involvement of direct care nurses in the conduct of clinical research is challenging because these nurses often lack the knowledge/skills, support, and time needed for broad immersion [6, 8]. A deeper understanding of some of these challenges, as well as possible solutions, may assist in fostering staff nurses’ involvement in clinical research. This paper reports on observations of direct care nurse engagement in a large multisite, behavioral intervention study and strategies employed to foster and maintain that
References
[1]
L. A. Bero, R. Grilli, J. M. Grimshaw, E. Harvey, A. D. Oxman, and M. A. Thomson, “Getting research findings into practice. Closing the gap between research and practice: an overview of systematic reviews of interventions to promote the implementation of research findings,” British Medical Journal, vol. 317, no. 7156, pp. 465–468, 1998.
[2]
J. Bostrom and W. N. Suter, “Research utilization: making the link to practice,” Journal of Nursing Staff Development, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 28–34, 1993.
[3]
S. G. Funk, E. M. Tornquist, and M. T. Champagne, “Barriers and facilitators of research utilization. An integrative review,” Nursing Clinics of North America, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 395–407, 1995.
[4]
R. A. Olade, “Attitudes and factors affecting research utilization,” Nursing forum, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 5–16, 2003.
[5]
A. Retsas, “Barriers to using research evidence in nursing practice,” Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 599–606, 2000.
[6]
R. Syme and C. Stiles, “Promoting nursing research and innovation by staff nurses,” Applied Nursing Research, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 17–24, 2012.
[7]
American Nurses Association, American Nurses Association: Code of Ethics for Nurses With Interpretive Statements, American Nurses Publishing, Washington, DC, USA, 2001.
[8]
M. Roxburgh, “An exploration of factors which constrain nurses from research participation,” Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 535–545, 2006.
[9]
A. Mulhall, “Nursing research and nursing practice: an exploration of two different cultures,” Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 48–55, 2002.
[10]
D. Burns, S. Robb, J. Haase, C. Phillips, and C. Bell, “Evaluation of a therapeutic music video intervention to enhance resilience in adolescent and young adults undergoing stem cell transplant,” in Proceedings of the 37th Congress of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology, Podium Paper, Vancouver, Calif, UUSA, September 2005.
[11]
J. Haase and S. Robb, “Theoretical synergy to enhance positive adjustment to cancer: the Haase resilience in illness model and Robb's contextual support model of music therapy,” in Proceedings of the 8th World Congress of the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS '06), Symposium Paper, Venice, Italy, October 2006.
[12]
P. Haut, J. Haase, S. Robb, et al., “Lessons learned from interdisciplinary collaboration to implement a behavioral intervention within a cooperative group,” in Proceedings of the 8th World Congress of the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS '06), Symposium Paper, Venice, Italy, October 2006.
[13]
J. Haase, “Lessons learned from interdisciplinary collaboration to implement a behavioral intervention within a cooperative group,” in Proceedings of the ONS Foundation Workshop: Interdisciplinary Multi-Site Research Training Program, Washington, DC, USA, October 2006.
[14]
L. Roll, K. Stegenga, J. Meekins, Y. Barnes, Haase, and J. E. Poster, “Strategies to support nurses' participation in a behavioral intervention study conducted through a cooperative oncology group,” in Proceedings of the American Cancer Society/Oncology Nursing Society 9th National Conference on Cancer Nursing Research, Hollywood, Calif, USA, 2007.
[15]
D. S. Burns, S. L. Robb, P. Haut, and J. E. Haase, “Lessons learned from interdisciplinary collaboration to implement a music therapy intervention within a cooperative group,” in Proceedings of the Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Cancer Institute Conference, Bethesda, Md, USA, October 2007.
[16]
Y. J. Barnes, V. Ferguson, B. Oakley, L. Roll, K. Stegenga, and J. E. Haase, “A synergistic dialogue: clinical nurses and academic researchers in partnership,” in Proceedings of the Blood and Marrow Transplantation Tandem Meetings (BMT '08), San Diego, Calif, USA, 2008.
[17]
K. Stegenga, L. Roll, C. Phillips-Salimi, Y. Barnes, and J. E. Haase, “At a distance: challenges and solutions of conducting a multi-site, behavioral clinical trial with adolescents/young adults undergoing stem cell transplant,” in Proceedings of the 5th Annual American Psychosocial Society Conference (APOS '08), Symposium, Irvine, Calif, USA, February2008.
[18]
J. E. Haase, S. L. Robb, L. Roll, and K. R. Stegenga, “Report on ANUR0631: stories and music for adolescent/young adult resilience during transplant (SMART). CEU Presentation—COG Nursing Committee,” in Proceedings of the 2009 Children's Oncology Group Meeting, Dallas, Tex, USA, October 2009.
[19]
B. Oakley, Y. Barnes, V. Hendricks-Ferguson et al., “Strategies to support nurse participation in a cooperative group behavioral intervention study,” in Proceedings of the Oral Presentation Session at the 16th International Conference on Cancer Nursing, Atlanta, Ga, USA, March2010.
[20]
S. L. Robb, D. S. Burns, S. L. Docherty, and J. E. Haase, “Ensuring treatment fidelity in a multi-site behavioral intervention study: implementing NIH behavior change consortium recommendations in the SMART trial,” Psycho-Oncology, vol. 20, no. 11, pp. 1193–1201, 2011.
[21]
A. N. Fort, J. E. Haase, and S. L. Robb, “Powerful messages communicated through music videos by adolescents/young adults undergoing stem cell transplant,” in Proceedings of the 11th National Conference on Cancer Nursing Research, Podium Presentation, Los Angeles, Calif, USA, 2011.
[22]
D. S. Burns, S. L. Robb, and J. E. Haase, “Exploring the feasibility of a therapeutic music video intervention in adolescents and young adults during stem-cell transplantation,” Cancer Nursing, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. E8–E16, 2009.
[23]
D. Jones, “Realizing the IOM future of nursing research within clinical practice,” Nursing Research, vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 315–316, 2012.
[24]
L. O'Byrne and S. Smith, “Models to enhance research capacity and capability in clinical nurses: a narrative review,” Journal of Clinical Nursing, vol. 20, no. 9-10, pp. 1365–1371, 2011.
