# The current status and influence factors of research ability among community nurses: A sequential qualitative–quantitative study

## TL;DR

This study explores the research abilities of community nurses and identifies factors that influence them using a mixed-methods approach.

## Contribution

The study introduces a new tool, CCN-RAT, to assess community nurses' research ability and identifies key influencing factors.

## Key findings

- Most community nurses have low to moderate research ability.
- Age, education, experience, and research training participation significantly influence research ability.

## Abstract

The study used a sequential qualitative–quantitative research design to develop a survey tool that explores the current situation and influencing factors of community nurses’ research ability.

The qualitative research developed the Chinese Community Nurses Research Ability Tool (CCN-RAT) through face-to-face interviews. The quantitative research tests the current situation and influencing factors of research ability among community nurses. One-way ANOVA and Multiple Linear Regression were used to analyze the results.

The Cronbach’s α was found to be 0.993, and the Subject-Content Validity Index was 0.99 using CCN-RAT. Most of the community nurses had a low to moderate level of research ability. Age (95%CI: 1.812–9.533, P = 0.004), educational attainment (95%CI: 4.667–11.660, P < 0.001), working experience year (95%CI: 0.274–1.0410, P = 0.001), number of participants in research projects (95%CI: 0.239–11.130, P = 0.041), number of published articles in Chinese core journal or SCI (95%CI: 19.354–36.969, P < 0.001), and number of participants in research training (95%CI: 18.289–28.218, P < 0.001) were significant influencing factors on research ability among community nurses.

CCN-RAT could help nurses, educators, students, and other populations to better understand the current situation and influencing factors of research ability, which could provide targeted research training to improve research ability for public health staff.