Victorian hospital nurses' research attitudes and activity.

Four hundred and fiftyeight registered nurses from seven Victorian hospitals were surveyed to establish their attitudes to nursing research, their levels of research activity and whether working in a hospital with a nursing research policy influenced their attitudes and activities. The results showed that respondents had favourable attitudes to, and considerable interest in, nursing research. They made moderate estimates of their own research skills and had a modest level of research activity, and the data indicated there was potential for this to be increased. Tertiary graduates and Grade 4 and above nurses had more positive attitudes to research and were more likely to have been involved in research, and graduates also had more confidence in their research abilities than non-graduates. The existence of a hospital nursing research policy was not associated with differences in nurses' research attitudes or activities. Major impediments to conducting research were perceived to be workloads and lack of time. Providing time for research appears to be the greatest challenge to improving practice through clinical nursing research.