Investigation of midwifery and nursing students' attitudes towards evidence-based nursing

The objective of this study is to explore the midwifery and nursing students’ attitudes towards evidence-based nursing. The sample of this descriptive and cross-sectional study included 626 undergraduate students studying midwifery/nursing at a state university in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The data were collected using the “Descriptive Form for Students” and the “Evidence-Based Nursing Attitude Questionnaire (EBNAQ).” The mean total score of the students in EBNAQ was 55.46±9.92, their mean score in the subscale “Beliefs and Expectations About Evidence-Based Nursing” was 27.24±5.87, their mean score in the subscale “Evidence-Based Practice Intention” was 13.83±3.00, and their mean score in the subscale “Sentiments on Evidence-Based Nursing” was 14.38±4.01. A significant relationship was determined between gender, academic year of study, liking the profession, doing research, duration of internet usage and duration of medical information acquisition and the mean total scores in EBNAQ (p<0.05). The results demonstrated that the students had highly positive attitudes toward evidence-based practices. Determination of the attitudes of students regarding evidence-based practices will help development of strategies towards increasing evidence-based midwifery and nursing practices through education.