Assessment of Attitude towards Research among Nursing students in Rajasthan, India

Background: Research is a scientific process that gathers and analyses information in order to increase our understanding of a specific topic or problem. Research can provide answers to previously unknown questions, filling knowledge gaps and changing the way healthcare professionals work. Therefore, present study aims to assess attitude towards research in nursing students of Rajasthan, India. Method: Descriptive survey research design was selected to conduct the study. Modified Attitude Towards Research (ATR) scale used as research instrument. 373 nursing students from various nursing colleges of Rajasthan were included as participants in the study through random online Googledoc survey. Results: In the present study 75.10% nursing students have not attended any conference, seminar, webinar regarding research. For the total modified ATR scale statements, 49.56% (184.86) nursing students were agreed while 35.92% (134.02) nursing students were not agreed and 14.56% (54.34) nursing students remained neutral with the statements regarding attitude towards research. On the basis of scoring of the ATR scale, around half of the nursing students, 54.42% (203) had positive attitude level, 41.83% (156) had neutral attitude level while only 3.75% (14) had negative attitude level regarding research. Findings revealed that there was significant association between level of attitude regarding research among nursing students with demographic variable like how many conferences, seminar, webinar attended regarding research. Conclusion: The study concluded that there is strong need for educational interventions like conference, seminar and webinar besides regular curriculum for nursing students regarding research as they are future health care providers. Building a positive attitude towards research will help nurses for more scientific approach and providing nursing care on evidence based practices.