Nursing students’ evidence based practices competencies and affecting factors: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed to examining nursing stu- dents’ knowledge, skill and attitude competencies regarding evidence- based practices and the related factors affecting this. Material and Methods: The cross-sectional study’s participants consisted of 445 stu- dent nurses from three government universities in the north of Türkiye in the academic year 2020-2021. Data were collected with “Participant Information Form” and “Evidence-Based Practice Evaluation Compe- tence Questionnaire” from students via email or social media. Descrip- tive statistics, Pearson and Spearman correlation, t-test, Mann-Whitney U, analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to evaluate the data. Results: The total mean score of the nursing students on the Evi- dence-Based Practice Evaluation Competence Questionnaire was de- termined as 87.97±10.11, and the students’ evidence-based practice competency was above a medium level. It was determined that the knowledge, skill and attitude sub-dimensions and total scale scores of the students who obtained information from the internet or books, from their colleagues or from their own experiences were high. It was found that most of the students thought that evidence-based practice would increase care quality, trust in the nursing profession, work satisfaction and pro- fessionalism, reduce clinical errors to a minimum and create a legal basis. Conclusion: It was established that nursing students had an above average level of knowledge, skill and attitude competencies regarding evidence-based practice. It was found that there was a relationship be- tween students receiving training or information about evidence-based practices from anywhere and their knowledge, skills and attitude com- petencies. It is recommended that studies should be conducted aimed at developing students’, who are future nurses, knowledge, skills and atti- tude on evidence-based practice competency.