ORGANIZATIONAL INTEGRATIVE MECHANISMS AND ADOPTION OF INNOVATIONS BY NURSES (RESEARCH DISSEMINATION, UTILIZATION).
Contributors: University of Pennsylvania.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 199
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: This study focused on use of research results by nurses, specifically exploring the relationship between organizational activities and structures that increase information flow (integrative mechanisms) and nurse adoption of innovations (research results). The hypothesis that use of integrative mechanisms would be positively associated with increased adoption of research findings by nurses was tested using analysis of variance. Five subhypotheses were identified to individually test the relationships of Conference and Presentation, Research Conduct, Position and Committee, Publication, and Incentive integrative mechanism categories to nurse innovation adoption and were tested using correlational statistics.

Integrative mechanisms were identified through a review of the health care management literature. Hospitals in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey were classified according to size and surveyed to identify their level of integrative mechanism use. Nineteen hospitals representing three levels of size and three levels of integrative mechanism use were included in the study.

The fourteen research findings studied were appropriate for use by individual nurses in acute medical-surgical hospital settings and were identified through a review of nursing research literature. A questionnaire which gathered information about the nurses' stage of innovation adoption was developed. Two hundred sixteen nurses were surveyed.

Analysis of variance demonstrated a significant interaction effect between level of integrative mechanism use, institution size and nurse adoption of innovations. In small hospitals a higher level of integrative mechanism use was related to increased nurse innovation adoption; however, in large hospitals a higher level of integrative mechanism use was related to decreased nurse innovation adoption. In small hospitals these relationships were strongest in the Research Conduct and Publication integrative mechanism categories while in large hospitals the relationships were strongest in the Conference & Presentation, Publication, and Position & Committee categories.

Although the findings do not support the hypothesis in large and medium sized hospitals, other factors are suggested which may obscure the effect of integrative mechanism use. Partial support for the theory of innovation diffusion, at least in small hospitals is developed and the need for future research to use a multivariate approach to study innovation diffusion is emphasized. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-06, Section: B, page: 2368.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1986.

School code: 0175.