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Staff in the National Health Service (NHS) are under considerable strain, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic; whilst NHS Trusts provide a variety of health and wellbeing support services, there has been little research investigating staff perceptions of these services. We interviewed 48 healthcare workers from 18 NHS Trusts in England about their experiences of workplace health and wellbeing support during the pandemic. Reflexive thematic analysis identified that perceived stigma around help-seeking, and staffing shortages due to wider socio-political contexts such as austerity, were barriers to using support services. Visible, caring leadership at all levels (CEO to line managers), peer support, easily accessible services, and clear communication about support offers were enablers. Our evidence suggests Trusts should have active strategies to improve help-seeking, such as manager training and peer support facilitated by building in time for this during working hours, but this will require long-term strategic planning to address workforce shortages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into gratitude as a significant sociological and psychological phenomenon has proliferated in the past two decades. However, there is little consensus on how it should be conceptualized or investigated empirically. We present a meta-narrative review that focuses on gratitude in health care, with an emphasis on research exploring interpersonal experiences in the context of care provision. Six meta-narratives from literatures across the humanities, sciences, and medicine are identified, contextualized, and discussed: gratitude as social capital; gifts; care ethics; benefits of gratitude; gratitude and staff well-being; and gratitude as an indicator of quality of care. Meta-narrative review was a valuable framework for making sense of theoretical antecedents and findings in this developing area of research. We conclude that greater attention needs to be given to what constitutes "evidence" in gratitude research and call for qualitative studies to better understand and shape the role and implications of gratitude in health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hospitals are awash with patient experience data, much of it collected with the ostensible purpose of improving the quality of patient care. However, there has been comparatively little consideration of the nature and capacities of data itself. Using insights from actor-network theory, we propose that paying attention to patient experience data as having agency in particular hospital interactions allows us to better trace how and in what circumstances data lead (or fail to lead) to quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the case for establishing a strategic fund for research in nursing, midwifery and health visiting, and for building capacity in the field. It reviews the key policy documents and staging posts in the process and argues that both professional push and policy pull factors have provided the key catalyst for change.The role and responsibilities of nurses, midwives and health visitors are increasing in the light of government policies and professional aspirations. An appropriate evidence base is essential to understanding, undertaking, commissioning and implementing research. Research capacity-building needs to be integrated into wider strategic plans for the profession, as well as R&D policy per se. Establishing a fund to develop high-calibre research is only the beginning of a much longer process to give nursing research greater influence. Researchers, educators, managers and clinicians need to join forces to build strong communities and strengthen their links with patient and user groups. However, the investment in nursing and midwifery R&D will have failed if it benefits the professional community only. Patient care needs to be part of what could be termed 'payback' for investment and it is essential to develop an evaluation strategy capable of measuring a range of impacts from the outset. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The need for access to a sustainable source of research funding in nursing has been a longstanding issue for debate and there has been intermittent support for the idea of a nursing research council. Although some have argued that a dedicated fund may lead to the marginalising of nursing research instead of a mainstreaming, recent UK government initiatives such as a focus on professional regulation and clinical governance reinforce the need for high-calibre research into nursing, midwifery and health visiting. A more secure funding base for nursing research could strengthen nursing's position in higher education, address issues of research capacity and problems over research careers as well as improve the focus of nursing research as a whole. Different options for research funding are considered and it is argued that a current policy convergence exists that makes arguments for a dedicated fund more compelling than hitherto. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The combined effects of the evidence-based movement, the introduction of the NHS research and development programme and policies intended to modernise the management of knowledge within the National Health Service have heightened the force of the 'implementation impulse' in research. New and experimental ways are being sought to close the conjunction between research and practice. Nurses are the key 'interface' workers in healthcare, therefore the NHS needs to create a research-rich nursing culture if it is to influence the quality and outcomes of patient care. Much depends upon the policies crafted to build capacity in areas of need and the conditions under which the conduct and commissioning of research operate. Nursing has been exercised by perceived 'barriers' to successful implementation of research for more than a decade. But rarely have discussions on the research-practice gap been informed by insights from research policy literature. The aim of this paper is to bring the two together: to use the insights from the one to interrogate the other. We conclude that the research policy literature provides a context and critique within which the new policy organs managing evidence within the NHS might be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper is to provide a report of the progress made in the first phase of the national initiative established to identify priorities for R&D for the nursing professions, which was reported earlier in this journal (Kitson et al., 1997). Here we describe how the methods were used, discuss the primary and secondary results achieved in the first phase of the initiative and present an outline of how it is proposed to take these results forward in a second and more strategic phase. The aim of the first phase was to explore the feasibility of establishing a national systematic process for identifying priorities for R&D in the nursing professions*. It is now proposed to establish a strategic alliance for research in nursing, midwifery and health visiting and these proposals are summarised at the end of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A systematic literature search was undertaken and an annotated bibliography compiled on the effectiveness of alliances for health promotion. Nineteen databases were systematically searched according to a pre-specified search strategy using parts 1 and 2 of the Cochrane Search Strategy for controlled studies which generated 185 discrete references. Of the 110 published empirical studies that were identified, 19 involved macro-alliances and 91 micro-alliances. Studies involved lifestyle behav iours (n=47), reproductive health and parenting (n=20) or focused on disease ( n=34). The methods used for the literature search and their considerations are presented in this paper along with a preliminary description of the studies retrieved. The method ological issues are discussed along with their implications and suggestions for further research and health policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes a national initiative to establish a co-ordinated and systematic method for identifying priorities for research and development, jointly set up by the Royal College of Nursing and the Centre for Policy in Nursing Research. It uses an explicit policy-making model described by Lomas' to outline the stages of the project. This model is also used to consider how nursing is influencing the current national clinical effectiveness and research and development agendas. Consideration is given as to whether the priority-setting exercise could make a difference to this wider policy agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers two 'mapping' exercises designed to survey research activity within nursing, midwifery and health visiting as a means of ascertaining current strengths and weaknesses in the research capacity. Interviews with key opinion leaders and stakeholders of research have been and are being conducted. Two vignettes are included here for the range of views they express about research in terms of its strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for building capacity for research. One of the themes to emerge is the dominance of medicine as a reference point for analysis and the extent to which the problems of, and prospects for, nursing are shared with other groups. But an argument that follows from this is that fixing the 'gaze' upon medicine distracts researchers of nursing from looking to other disciplines for support and opportunities for coalition building. Prospects for research in nursing may have more in common with other groups who perceive themselves as being perched on the periphery of the dominant culture and therefore can be analysed within that framework. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents information on the issues related to the government policy for public health and the efficient production of hospital services. The promotion of consumer choice and the provision of information to the public are the main principles of the current government policy in Great Britain. The performance of hospital is manifested in the National Health Service.

Research can contribute to resolving some of the workforce challenges that all heath care systems face. In an attempt to identify the research agenda, key stakeholders in the UK were brought together and background papers were presented by academics with expertise in seven related but distinct areas: global issues; professional boundaries; education; regulation; workplaces; professional–patient interaction; and organisation and management. The research questions identified in each area are described along with some methodological challenges. It is hoped that this will encourage research in this crucial area of health services by facilitating a coherent approach to the diverse needs identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the development of the program which measures the quality of nursing care in Great Britain. The complexity of the measurement task in health care raised many questions for such disciplines. Information about the techniques for measuring the quality of nursing care are discussed.