Exploration of Factors That Influence Clinical Nurses’ Active Engagement in Research and Evidence-Based Practice: Protocol for a Scoping Review (Preprint)

Vollständiger Abstract

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BACKGROUND Nurses rely on current and relevant evidence to provide safe, high-quality care to patients and families. To do this, nurses need support to participate in research and evidence-based practice (EBP) activities. Despite the well-documented benefits of nurses’ engagement in research and EBP, few actually do so in the clinical setting. This creates a knowledge-to-practice gap in which nursing evidence is not generated and existing evidence is often not applied in practice, jeopardizing the quality of care and patient outcomes. OBJECTIVE The aim of this scoping review is to identify and map the evidence on factors that influence clinical nurses’ engagement in research and/or EBP. METHODS This review will be conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and reported in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist. Searches were conducted on April 28, 2025, in 5 health-related databases. Titles and abstracts, and then full-text articles, were screened by 2 independent researchers against the eligibility criteria for inclusion. The eligibility criteria include research studies (ie, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods) and reviews that describe factors that influence nurses working in a clinical setting or in an outpatient clinic attached to a tertiary hospital to engage in research and/or EBP activities. Studies must be published in English after 2010 and conducted in high-income countries. Data will be extracted into a data extraction table adapted from the JBI data extraction instrument by an independent researcher and checked by another. The data from the included studies will be presented in tabular form, accompanied by a narrative summary. RESULTS Database searches identified 11,051 records, of which 50.2% (n=5544) remained after duplicate records were removed. Screening began in May 2025, and full-text screening was completed in November 2025. Data extraction and synthesis began in November 2025. Results are planned to be submitted for publication in the summer of 2026. CONCLUSIONS The findings from this scoping review will inform the development of targeted interventions and organizational strategies that enhance clinical nurses’ engagement in research and EBP. This will better position nurses to improve the quality of care provided to patients and families, thereby improving patient outcomes and advancing the nursing profession. CLINICALTRIAL Open Science Framework 10.17605/OSF.IO/5VWE9; https://osf.io/5vwe9 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT DERR1-10.2196/89824