Van Eerdenbrugh S, Pingani L, Prevendar T, Lantta T, Zajac J, Prokop-Dorner A, Brandão MP, Poklepović Peričić T, van Hoof J, Lund H, Bała MM. Cross-sectional exploratory survey among health researchers in Europe on the awareness of and barriers affecting the use of an evidence-based research approach.
BMJ Open 2024;
14:e083676. [PMID:
39414297 PMCID:
PMC11487815 DOI:
10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083676]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2024] [Indexed: 10/18/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
This exploratory study was conducted to find out how well the concept of evidence-based research (EBR) is known among European health researchers with substantial clinical research experience, and which barriers affect the use of an EBR approach. The concept of EBR implies that researchers use evidence synthesis to justify new studies and to inform their design.
DESIGN
A cross-sectional exploratory survey study.
SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS
The survey was conducted among European health researchers. Respondents included 205 health researchers (physicians, nurses, dentists, allied health researchers and members of other professions involved in health research) with a doctoral degree or at least 5 years of research experience.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES
The primary outcome measures were the level of awareness of the concept of EBR and the presence of barriers affecting the use of an EBR approach. Secondary outcome measures include correlations between sociodemographic characteristics (eg, profession) and awareness of EBR.
RESULTS
We discovered that 84.4% of the respondents initially indicated their awareness of the concept of EBR. Nevertheless, 22.5% of them concluded that, on reading the definition, they either do not know or do not fully comprehend the concept of EBR. The main barriers affecting the use of an EBR approach were related to organisational issues, such as not being attributed resources (30.5% of the respondents), time (24.8%) or access to implement it (14.9%).
CONCLUSIONS
Despite the limitations, this study clearly shows that ongoing initiatives are necessary to raise awareness about the importance of implementing the EBR approach in health research. This paper contributes to a discussion of the issues that obstruct the implementation of the EBR approach and potential solutions to overcome these issues, such as improving the knowledge and skills necessary to practice the EBR approach.
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