What are health professionals’ intentions toward using research and products of research in clinical practice? A systematic review and narrative synthesis

Aim To explore health professionals’ intentional behaviour and what determines their intention to use products of research in clinical practice. Background Trying to get research and products of research into clinical practice is an enduring problem. A clearer picture is emerging as to how individual practitioners respond toward practical problems of changing clinical practice, but this does not include health professionals’ intentions to use products of research and what influences their intentions. Design Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis. Data sources Five databases were searched systematically. This included BNI, HMIC, Psych INFO, CINHAL and MEDLINE; articles published in the English language only were included. Review methods PRISMA guidelines were used as a framework for structuring the review and methods of narrative synthesis to analyse study outcomes. Results Eighteen studies matched the final inclusion criteria. All studies used questionnaires to measure intention. Most studies involved Nurses or Physicians. Nurses’ intentions were mostly influenced by their perceived ability to use guidelines in their practice. Physicians’ intentions were often influenced by their perceptions of the usefulness and relevance of the guideline and peer pressure amongst the professional group. Practice habits, when added to intentional models were also predictive of intentional behaviour. In studies that compared intentions with behaviour, the level of intention often did not match self-report or actual behaviour.