HISTORICAL

EVOLUTION OF
NURSING
RESEARCH
Submitted to submitted by
Dr. Sujitha E Athira ps
Assistant professor 1st year MSc nursing
Govt.college of nursing Govt.college of nursing
Thrissur Thrissur
 OBJECTIVES

At the end of the seminar, students will be able to:

1. Identify the significance of nursing research.

Nursing research has not always had the prominence and importance it enjoys today, but its
interesting history portends a distinguished future. The word research means “to search again” or
“to examine carefully”. Research is systematic inquiry, or study to validate and refine existing
knowledge and develop new knowledge. The ultimate goal of research is the development of a body
of knowledge for a discipline or profession such as nursing .

Research in nursing began with Florence Nightingale, a British nurse. Her landmark publication,
Notes on Nursing (1859), described her early interest in environmental factors that promote physical
and emotional well-being. Her most widely known research contribution involved an analysis of
factors affecting soldier mortality and morbidity during the Crimean War. Based on her skillful
analyses, she was successful in effecting some changes in nursing care and, more generally, in public
health.

SIGNIFICANCE OF NURSING RESEARCH

Research will help the development and generation of knowledge in each area of specialization. It is
helpful in evidence-based practice. Research findings give first-hand experience on which evidence-
based nursing practice can be build upon. Improvement in nursing education and nursing
management is possible through research studies. Research will help in standardization and refining
nursing practice.

Strengthen the profession by generating knowledge through scientific studies. Through evidence-
based nursing, cost- effective care can be rendered to clients. Research results will help to provide
answers to guide practitioner in the decision-making process. It enables the administrator to take
prompt decisions on health-related problems. It is essential for moulding attitudes, intellectual
competencies and technical skills.

Florence nightingales contribution to research statistics

From an early age, Florence Nightingale showed a gift for mathematics, excelling in math under her
father’s tutorship. As an adult, she promoted the idea that social and health phenomena could be
objectively measured and analyzed. She was an innovator in the collection, tabulation,
interpretation, and visual presentation of health data. She was one of the first to use pie charts,
which had first been developed in 1801. Pie charts are used routinely now, but in the mid-1800s,
they were a novel method of presenting data—yet highly attractive for presentations to lay
audiences. In fact, Nightingale is credited with developing a special form of pie chart that is
occasionally called Nightingale’s rose diagram (now called a polar area diagram), She used rose
diagrams to illustrate monthly variation in patient mortality in the military field hospital she
managed during the Crimean War. She made extensive use of these rose diagrams to present
information on the nature and magnitude of medical care in the Crimea to Members of Parliament
and government workers who might otherwise have been “turned off” by traditional statistical
tables or summaries. In her later life, Nightingale undertook a comprehensive statistical study of
sanitation in rural areas of India and was a prominent figure in introducing improved medical care in
India. In 1859, Nightingale became the first woman elected as a member of the Royal Statistical
Society. She was later elected as an honorary member of the American Statistical Association.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF NURSING RESEARCH

DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH IN WESTERN COUNTRIES:

1850s - Florence Nightingale studied nursing care during the Crimean War. She called for research
that focused on nursing practice.

1902- Lavinia Dock reported a school nurse “experiment” that was begun by Lillian Wald. Nurses
gave free care to school children and visited the homes of sick children.

1906- Adelaide Nutting conducted a survey of the educational status of nursing.

1909- The first university-based nursing program was established at the University of Minnesota.
The first university-based nursing program was established at the University of Minnesota.

1923- A well-known study of nursing and nursing education was conducted by the Committee for the
Study of Nursing Education and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

1924- The first doctoral program for nurses was established in 1924 at Teachers College, Columbia
University.

1927 -Jean Broadhurst and her colleagues reported a research investigation on handwashing
procedures. Edith S. Bryan became the first nurse to earn a doctoral degree when she received a
PhD in psychology and counselling from Johns Hopkins University.

1928- Ethel Johns and Blanche Pfefferkorn published a study concerning the activities in which
nurses were involved. This study was one of the first of many studies that focused on nurses.

1932 -Elizabeth Ryan and Virginia B. Miller investigated thermometer disinfecting techniques

1936- Sigma Theta Tau, National Honour Society for Nursing, began funding nursing research.

1948- Esther Lucille Brown, a social anthropologist, published her famous study on nursing
education, Nursing for the Future, which called for nursing education to take place in university
settings.

1949- The Division of Nursing Resources was organized within the U.S. Public Health Service. Esta H.
McNett demonstrated the usefulness of masks in preventing the spread of tuberculosis. 1952 The
first issue of Nursing Research was published.

1953 -The Institute of Research and Service in Nursing Education was founded at Teachers College,
Columbia University.

1955-The American Nurses Foundation was established with the goal of promoting high-level
wellness and the improvement of patient care. The Nursing Research Grants and Fellowship
Programs were established by the U.S. Public Health Service.

1957- The first unit directed primarily toward research in nursing practice was established at the
Department of Nursing of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. The Western Council for
Higher Education in Nursing (WCHEN) sponsored a nursing research conference at the University of
Colorado.

1962- The federally supported Nurse Scientist Graduate Training Grants Programs were begun.

1963- Lydia Hall published her 5-year study of chronically ill patients who were cared for at the Loeb
Centre in New York.

1970- The National Commission for the Study of Nursing and Nursing Education, established by the
American Nurses Association (ANA) and the National League for Nursing (NLN), published the results
of a 3-year study on nursing ed in both nursing practice and nursing education. called the Lysaught
Report, after Jerome Lysaught, director of the project. One of the recommendations of the report
was that research be financed in both nursing practice and nursing education.

1972- The ANA established a Department of Nursing Research.

1974- At its national convention, the ANA delineated nursing practice as the area to which nursing
research should be directed in the next decade.

1976- The Commission on Nursing Research of the ANA recommended that research preparation be
included in undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs.

1977- The Veterans’ Administration began employing nurse researchers.

1978- The first issue of Research in Nursing and Health was published.

1979 -The first issue of Western Journal of Nursing Research was published.

1980- The Commission on Nursing Research of the ANA set up a list of research priorities for the
1980s. 1982- Eleven volumes were published of the work of the Conduct and Utilization of Research
in Nursing (CURN) project.

1983- The first Centre for Nursing Research was established. It encompassed the American Nurses
Foundation and the American Academy of Nursing.

1986- The National Centre for Nursing Research (NCNR) was established within the National
Institutes of Health.

1987 -Dr. Ada Hinshaw, director of the NCNR, called for nursing organizations to identify their
research priorities.

1988 -The NCNR convened the first Conference on Research Priorities to establish research priorities
through 1994. The first issues of Applied Nursing Research and Nursing Science Quarterly were
published.

1992 -The first issue of Clinical Nursing Research was published.

1993 -The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) was established within the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). This organization replaced the NCNR. The second Conference on Research
Priorities was held to establish research priorities for 1995–1999.

1994 -The first issue of Qualitative Nursing Research was published.

1997- The International Council of Nurses convened a group of experts to establish worldwide
nursing research priorities.
1999 -The first issue of Biological Research for Nursing was published.

2001- The budget for NINR reached almost $90 million.

2004 -The first issue of Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing was published.

2005- The budget for NINR was over $138 million.

DEVELOPMENT OF NURSING RESEARCH IN INDIA

1964 -Dr. Marie Ferguson conducted a valuable study on “Activity Study to Define Nursing and Non-
nursing Functions of Nurses in Selected Health Institutes of India’’.

1966 -"Time utilization Study '' with the help of Ms. Anna Gupta, Principal, RAK College of Nursing,
ably directed by Dr. Sulochana Krishnan.

1976 -A seminar on Nursing Research for educationists was organized at Delhi, Mussoorie
(Uttarakhand) and Yercaud (Tamil Nadu) by Dr. Aparna Bhaduri and Dr. Marce Farrell.

1981- Dr. Farrell and Dr. Bhaduri's book Health Research: A Community- based Approach was
published by World Health Organization (WHO).

1982- The major development during this period was the organization of the national conference
"Nursing Research in India: Prospect and Retrospect".

1984- The University Grants Commission conducted a workshop on nursing research.

1986- During this year NRSI was developed to promote nursing research. Dr. Indrajit Walia was the
President and Mrs. Uma Handa was the Secretary. The Committee conducts conferences annually.

1998- Mr. R. Rajaratnam, Senior Nursing Tutor of National Institute of Mental Health and
Neuroscience (NIMHANS), organized a nursing research interest section.

2002 -During this period, the revised versions of Indian Nursing Council for General Nursing and
Midwifery course and Post Basic B.Sc. Nursing were included in Nursing Research as a subject.

2004 -Jain & Co., Noida, started publishing Nightingale Nursing Times.

2005 -The National Institute of Nursing Education, PGIMER, Chandigarh, published a research-based
journal namely Nursing and Midwifery Research Journal. The Indian Nursing Council constituted
National Consortium Ph.D. Nursing Programme under the leadership of Shri T. Dileep Kumar,
President INC, New Delhi. WHO also supported this programme.

2009- During this period, the central Institute of Nursing Research (CIN) came into existence under
the supervision of the Trained Nurses Association of India in New Delhi. Ph.D. Nursing was started by
IGNOU.

2010 -Baba Farid university of Health Sciences in Faridkot, punjab started Ph.D. programme in
nursing.

DEVELOPMENT OF NURSING RESEARCH IN KERALA

Ph.D. was taken by the following nursing personnel:

1. Dr. Jolly Jose (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 1996)

2. Dr. Mary Lucitta (Kerala University, 1999)

3. Dr. C. Rema Devi (Kerala University, 2003)

4. Dr. R. Bincy (Kerala University, 2004)

5. Dr. Asuma Beevi (Calicut University, 2004)

2008- Govt. college of Nursing, Thiruvananthapuram, was upgraded as a research centre.

2010- An international conference on "Challenges in clinical Nursing Research" under the leadership
of Prof. Y. Prasanna Kumari and Dr R.Bincy was held in Government college of Nursing,
Thiruvananthapuram.

2011- A state-level conference on "Paradigms in Experimental Research" was conducted in

A separate Ethical committee was formulated for Nursing Research in Kerala. Universities in
Kerala conducting research programmes in nursing

1. University of Kerala

2. University of Calicut

3. MG University, Kottayam

4. WHO and INC -Ph.D. Consortium, Nursing College, Thiruvananthapuram

5. Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS)

M.Phil. in nursing

l. Clinical Epidemiology, Medical college, Thiruvananthapuram

2. MG University, Kottayam

NURSING RESEARCH- PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

The early years: from nightingale to the 1960s

Research in nursing began with Florence Nightingale. Her landmark publication, Notes on Nursing
(1859), described her early interest in environmental factors that promote physical and emotional
well-being. Most studies in the early 1900s concerned nurses' education. Sigma Theta Tau (which
became Sigma Theta Tau International in 1985) was the first organization to fund nursing research in
the United States awarding a $600 grant to Alice Crist Malone in 1936.
During the 1940s, government-initiated studies of nursing education continued, spurred on by the
high demand for nursing personnel during World War II. An increase in the number of nurses with
advanced degrees, the establishment of a research centre at the Walter Reed Army Institution of

Research, increased availability of funding and the inception of the American Nurses' Foundation-
which is devoted to the promotion of nursing research-provided impetus to nursing during this
period. In the 1960s, nursing leaders began to express concern about the dearth of research in
nursing practice.

Nursing research in 1970s

By the 1970s, the growing number of nursing studies and discussions of theoretical and contextual
issues created the need for additional communication outlets. During the 1970s, there was a change
in emphasis in nursing research from areas such as teaching and nurses themselves to
improvements in client care- signifying a growing awareness by nurses of the need for an evidence
base from which to practice. During the 1970s, there was a change in emphasis in nursing research
from areas such as teaching and nurses themselves to improvements in client care .Nursing research
also expanded internationally.

Nursing research in 1980s

The 1980s brought nursing research to a new level of development. More attention was paid to the
types of questions being asked, the methods of collecting and analysing information being used, the
linking of research to theory and the utilization of research findings in practice. In 1986 in the United
States, was the establishment of the National Centre for Nursing Research (NCNR) at the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) by congressional mandate.

Several nursing groups developed priorities for nursing research during the 1980s. Nurses also
began to conduct formal projects specifically designed to increase research utilization, such as the
Conduct and Utilization of Research in Nursing (CUNU) project. In 1989, the U.S. government
established the Agency for Health Care policy and Research (AHCPR).

Nursing research in the 1990s

Nursing science came into its maturity in the United States during the 1990s. Funding for nursing
research has also grown. Several journals were established in the 1990s. Cochrane Collaboration was
inaugurated in 1993. This collaboration, an international network of institutions and individuals,
maintains and updates systematic reviews of hundreds of clinical interventions to facilitate EBP
(www.cochrane.org).

RELATED RESEARCH EVIDENCE

1.A History of the Evolution of Nursing Research in the Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta from
1980 to 1998

Author / Creator

Pasieka, Denise E
The purpose of this study was to trace the historical evolution of nursing research at the Faculty of
Nursing, University of Alberta between 1980 and 1998. The questions that guided this study were:
What were the trends in nursing research, specifically what type of questions were studied and what
research methods were utilized by researchers between 1980 and 1998? What contextual factors,
internal and external, influenced the development of nursing research? What roles did key leaders
play to foster a climate conducive to research pursuits and in accessing/developing funding
opportunities for nursing research? Historical methods were used to answer these questions. The
primary data sources used in this study included eleven faculty produced scholarly reports on
research and scholarly activities, which were supplemented with secondary data. In the reports
there were 1180 listed publications (90 missing). This included 283 research-based articles, 118 non-
research articles, 217 conference proceedings, 189 books/book chapters, and 221 editorials and
other written work. The results showed the research production increased over time, that research
topics shifted towards a clinical foci, that research methods became more sophisticated with an
almost equal use of qualitative and quantitative methods by the late 1990s, that the majority of
researchers in the Faculty of Nursing worked in research teams, and that there was a shift from
publishing in minor nursing journals to major, international nursing journals over time.

2. historical evolution of nursing research

THE RESEARCH CULTURE in nursing has evolved in the last 150 years, beginning with Nightingale’s
work in the mid-1850s and culminating in the creation of the National Institute of Nursing Research
(NINR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This article highlights nursing’s efforts to facilitate
the growth of the research culture by developing theory, establishing the importance of a research-
based practice, advancing education, and providing avenues for dissemination of research.
Similarities with the chiropractic profession are discussed, along with a commentary by Cheryl Hawk,
D.C, Ph.D.

CONCLUSION

The next century challenges nursing research with critical imperatives for improving health care.
Changes in our nations population and their needs and expectations will impact the direction of
nursing research. the broad spectrum of nursing research encompasses both clinical and basic
investigation with the patient as central focus.

REFERENCES

1. Polit DF, Beck CT. Essentials of nursing research: Appraising evidence for nursing practice. 8 th
edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2009.
2. Rentala S. Basics in Nursing Research and Biostatistics. 1 st edition. Jaypee Brothers Medical
Publishers; 2018
3. www. Wikipedia.org
4. www.medscape.org