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ABSTRACT
A meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies was conducted to reconcile the apparent conflicting results in the domain of research designed to determine the effects of continuing education on nursing practice. The overall mean effect size supported the hypothesis that continuing education positively affects nursing practice. Findings related to mediating effects were inconclusive. Suggestions for future research are given.
The purpose of continuing nursing education (CNE) is to enhance practice and, therefore, promote the health of the public (American Nurses' Association, 1986). To this end, a national system of accreditation of CNE approvers and providers was developed; legislation requiring CNE for relicensure was enacted; and the business of CNE proliferated. The basic assumption underlying all of this activity was that CNE positively impacted nursing practice. The CNE literature contains a plethora of research reports and impact evaluation studies aimed at identifying and measuring this effect (Connors, 1989). Unfortunately, the results of these inquiries were often conflicting (Warmuth, 1987) and the issue of CNE's impact on practice remained unclear.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Despite the amount of research conducted on the effect of CNE on nursing practice, we still could not say with a great deal of confidence that CNE has a positive effect on practice. A simple narrative review of the literature was not helpful in drawing conclusions because so many diverse approaches were used to study the problem (Gosnell, 1984). Nursing, like other social sciences, has difficulty employing controlled experimental studies. Social scientists address questions involving the many variables of a social system, human behavior, and all of the extraneous influences on that behavior. These make isolating a treatment effect very difficult. However, meta-analysis, a quantitative, systematic, and objective approach to combining the findings from a group of studies, offered the opportunity to obtain reliable and valid conclusions.
In order to reconcile apparently conflicting results, meta-analysis can be used to statistically analyze the summary statistics from many studies to generate an overall statistic of interest-effect size. Usually computed as a standardized mean difference, effect size shows us the magnitude of a treatment effect or the strength of a relationship. According to Wolf (1986), one can average the effect sizes and draw conclusions about the real state of affairs.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY