Factors Related to Evidence-Based Practices Among Mental Health Nurses in Thailand: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background and objectives: Despite the robustness of evidence-based practice in increasing efficiency in nursing care and improving patient safety, using evidence in practice is still rare in mental health nursing. This correlational descriptive research aimed to explore the factors and examine the relationship between attitudes, knowledge/skills, organizational culture, mentorship, and demographic factors to evidence-based practices among mental health nurses working in psychiatric hospitals in Thailand.

Methods: The sample consisted of 255 nurses working in psychiatric hospitals under the Thai Department of Mental Health, located in service units across the country's four regions. The data collection tools included (1) a demographic questionnaire, (2) the Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire: EBPQ, (3) Organizational Culture & Readiness for System-wide Integration of Evidence-Based Practice: OCRSIEP, and (4) the Evidence-Based Practice Mentorship Scale. Descriptive statistics and Spearman's correlation coefficient were used for data analysis.

Results: The findings revealed that the factors positively correlated with evidence-based practice among mental health nurses in Thailand were attitude with a mean score of 4.90 (r = 0.39, p-value < 0.001), knowledge/skills with a mean score of 4.69 (r = 0.61, p-value < 0.001), organizational culture with a mean score of 3.94 (r = 0.26, p-value < 0.001), and mentorship with a mean score of 2.77 (r = 0.16, p-value = 0.011). Demographic factors such as educational level (r = 0.21, p-value < 0.001) and work experience in psychiatric and mental health nursing (r = 0.14, p-value = 0.031) were also positively correlated.

Conclusions: This research revealed that EBP knowledge and skills are the most significant factors related to evidence-based practice among Thai mental health nurses. Therefore, EBP knowledge and skills should be enhanced in the curriculum during the nursing study and through continuing education once nurses graduate. Organizational culture and mentorship also need to be promoted to strengthen the use of EBP in Thailand.

Keywords: Thailand; attitude; demographic factors; evidence-based practice; knowledge/skills; mental health nurses; mentorship; nursing; organizational culture.