A comparison of research utilization among nurses working in Canadian civilian and United States Army healthcare settings

Researchers and theorists working in the field of knowledge translation point to the importance of organizational context in influencing research utilization. The study purpose was to compare research utilization in two different healthcare contexts--Canadian civilian and United States (US) Army settings. Contrary to the investigators' expectations, research utilization scores were lower in US Army settings, after controlling for potential predictors. In-service attendance, library access, belief suspension, gender, and years of experience interacted significantly with the setting (military or civilian) for research utilization. Predictors of research utilization common to both settings were attitude and belief suspension. Predictors in the US Army setting were trust and years of experience, and in the Canadian civilian setting were in-service attendance, time (organizational), research champion, and library access. While context is of central importance, individual and organizational predictors interact with context in important although not well-understood ways, and should not be ignored.