Capacity building skills in the implementation of evidence-based practice for community health nurses: an exploratory descriptive cohort study

Abstract

Background: While nurses are strategically placed to support the achievement of universal health, their practice may not always be informed by evidence, especially in a context where research evidence is not commonly used to inform practice.

Objective/Aim/Hypothesis: Improve management of clients with CNCDs in Caribbean community through evidence-based practice (EBP) capacity building workshops.

Design/Methods: A descriptive, quantitative design was used for this study. Participants included Community Based Nurses who attended an initial and recall workshop on EBP in a Caribbean island. All participants were included as the sample. Data were collected as a Pre-Test and Post Test before the initial workshop and at the recall workshop. Analysis was done quantitatively. Since the sample was small, only descriptive statistics were used.

Results: Data showed 64% of participants had no experience with EBP, 55% needed more essential resources to participate in EBP and 55% recognized a need to include EBP to change their clinical practice effectively.

Conclusions: The nurses and district supervisors observed a high level of interest and commitment to initiating and completing EBP projects. However, the reality of significant workplace demands, and limitations in consistent logistical and supervisory support impacted long-term sustainability.

Keywords:

• evidence-based practice
• Caribbean nurses
• community health
• chronic diseases

Acknowledgments

This study would not have been possible without the entire research team's hard work on- and off-site, the dedicated nurses, and all the wonderful people who participated in it.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

De-identified survey data will be made available by emailing a request to: [Blind for review].

Authors contributions

[Blind for review] Conceived of the presented idea and carried out various aspects of the research and analysis. [Blind for review] Developed the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the [Blind for review] approved this study. We obtained written informed consent from all study participants. All study methods were performed under the Declaration of Helsinki's ethical principles.

Reference number: CREC-SA.0166/02/2020

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The project was funded with in-kind donations from the [Blind for review].