Outcomes of the Prince of Songkla University Model to Building Nursing Research Capacity for Thai Nurses to the Asian Region : Participatory Action Research

ABSTRACT

Building research capacity in nursing services has been recognized internationally as important in order to produce a sound evidence for decision–making in policy. Prince of Songkla University has adopted the direction of development which is consistent with its vision of being a leading university in the Asian region with the obligations of producing research. The aim of this study is to evaluate the outcomes (the number of research reports and nurses' satisfaction) of building nursing research capacity with the Prince of Songkla University Model. This participatory action research was a part of study on the outcomes of building nursing research capacity with the Prince of Songkla University Model. One hundred participants (n = 100) were recruited on a voluntary basis during the years 2004–2009. Six participatory development steps were carried out. Data were collected through recording research report presentations, a questionnaire, and satisfaction interviews. Quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. It was found that 61% (n = 61) of the Thai nurses were able to present their research reports at international conferences in three countries, namely the Republic of Korea (three times, or 50.82%), Japan (44.26%) and Indonesia (4.92%). The majority of the presentations (72.13%) were in the form of poster presentations; most of the research designs (45.90%) were descriptive studies, followed by quasi-experimental research (27.87%); and most of the research topics (22.95%) were on adult nursing, followed by nursing administration and management (18.03%), and nursing education (16.38%). The participants' satisfaction was 85% at a high level, and 15% at a moderate level. As academic and service partners move forward to design and implement changes to prepare the next generation of building nursing research capacity for the realities of a changing health care delivery, both process from PSU Model and outcomes evaluations must be incorporated in planning. The key point is that measurement is essential to determine the short –and long-term effectiveness and the efficiency of this model.