Nursing and midwifery research priorities for Kenya: Results from a national Delphi survey.

BACKGROUND: The International Council of Nurses and the World Health Organization have prioritized evidence-based nursing and midwifery practice derived from nurse-led research. However, in a low-resource country like Kenya, there is a need to identify research priorities to optimize utilization of limited existing research infrastructure and funding. Kenya lacks a nursing and midwifery research strategy to guide research prioritization. INTRODUCTION: The goal of this study was to identify and describe nursing and midwifery research priorities for Kenya. METHODS: A cross-sectional Delphi survey using two iterative rounds of electronic data collection was used to reach a consensus about priorities for nursing and midwifery research in Kenya. NVivo-12 was used to analyze the qualitative data to identify categories, sub-themes, and themes; descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data. RESULTS: Participants included 159 nurse managers, administrators, and educators representing regional, county, and national referral, private, and faith-based hospitals, nurse training schools, research institutions, and nursing organizations in Kenya. Staffing challenges, motivation, remuneration, and funding for higher education were ranked as the top critically important issues using a cutoff point of ≥ 70% agreement. CONCLUSION: There is a need for the development of a National Framework for Nursing and Midwifery Research Priorities in Kenya to guide research that builds excellence in meeting nursing and midwifery human resource concerns and ultimately improves patient care practices and outcomes. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND NURSING POLICY: The objective of Kenya's health goals delineated within three key national health documents cannot be attained without adequate numbers of nursing and midwifery professionals and policies that address nursing and midwifery staffing challenges, remuneration for employment, and improved funding for higher education.

Nurses' and midwives' participation and utilization of health-related research in Kenya: Implications for evidence-based practice.

Objective: To assess the level of participation of nurses and midwives in health-related research, determine the status of utilization of research to inform nursing and midwifery practice in Kenya, and explore perspectives of nurses and midwives about strategies to empower nurses/midwives to engage in health research in Kenya. Methods: Data were extracted from online survey responses of 156 nurse and midwife educators, practitioners, and managers/administrators. SPSS version 26 was used to analyze quantitative data; qualitative data were analyzed using Excel to organize data into categories. Results: Over one-third of participants reported ever publishing research (37.2%, 58/156). Participants reported using knowledge gained in nursing school to guide practice most frequently (n = 148). Utilization of research findings to guide practice was reported by 80.3% (110/137) of participants. Strategies to enhance participation in the research included research training, research forums, policy reforms, and emphasis on research in curricula. Conclusions: There is need to intensify and prioritize proposed strategies to empower nurses/midwives to engage in health research.

Perceptions of the use of mobile phones to access reproductive health care services in Tamale, Ghana.

Introduction: Africa has one of the world's highest populations of young people. In addition, Africa has one of the highest proportions of young people facing the worst health challenges. Although previous scholars have reported that young people were using mobile phones to fill in the gaps in accessing reproductive health services, among other health services, there was little comprehensive research on the perception of young people in Tamale, Ghana, on the use of mobile phones to access reproductive health services. This study analyzed the perceptions on mobile phone use to access reproductive health services among young people in Tamale, Ghana. Methods: The research used a quantitative method design from a target population of 72,706 young people from selected peri-urban, low-income, middle income and high-income residential areas in Tamale Metropolis, Ghana. The sample size used was 397 young people. Participants were selected using a stratified multistage sampling strategy. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Results: A total of 86% of the respondents agree that the use of mobile phones helps to overcome cultural challenges that young people in Tamale encounter in accessing reproductive health care. Also, 84.6% of the respondents agree that the use of mobile phones helps them to overcome inadequate access to reproductive health information and services. The use of mobile phones helps to overcome the negative attitude of health providers toward young people in need of reproductive health services was agreed by most of the respondents [strongly agree (35.4%) and agree (49.4%)]. Conclusion: This study informed highly positive perceptions and attitudes toward the use of mobile phones to access Reproductive Health Services in Tamale, Ghana. There is, therefore the need for the health sector to reform its mode of prescriptions of medication, consultation, and service delivery to leverage on the advantages that mHealth presents.