Policy analysis: federal support for nursing research

As a result of nursing research, care provided by nurses in many different settings has been shown to be cost effective and the quality of care provided for clients has been enhanced. Despite findings such as these, continuation of federal support for nursing research has emerged as a major issue. The purpose of this study was to analyze public policy processes related to federal support for nursing research. The major research question was, How has public policy related to nursing research evolved since the passage of the Nursing Training Amendments of 1979, P.L. 96-76?" Study emphasis was on the processes involved and not whether policy was good or bad, or what it should or ought to be. The design of the study was exploratory, descriptive field research. Grounded theory methodology directed the data collection and analysis. The sample consisted of 66 nurse and nonnurse participants from three policy-making areas: (a) legislative branch of government, (b) executive branch, and (c) nursing special interest groups. Primary methods of data collection were ethnographic interviews and unobtrusive data from government documents; participant information files were used as secondary data sources. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the computer program, Ethnograph. Constant comparative analysis directed the data coding process and continued until conceptual and theoretical categories were developed and a core variable emerged. The major finding of this research is the development of a substantive theory, Re-Searching: Toward Legitimization of Care. "Re-searching" is the core variable and accounts for the central process related to nursing research policy process. Three concepts serve to integrate the theory: making connections, transcending disorder, and passage. "Toward Legitimization of Care" emerged as a consequence of the policy process. The idea of care-related research gained beginning acceptance within the larger context of biomedical or "cure" research. The significance for nursing is the development of a theoretical scheme to explain how the policy process has affected federal support for nursing research. Study findings provide an explanatory-theoretical scheme that can serve as a base for hypothesis generation about the policy-making process and how nursing might influence the process to effect greater support for nursing research and research training.