Abstract:

Despite increasing knowledge of potential benefits of research utilization in improving quality of healthcare management decision (HMDs) outcomes and practice, the use of research evidence by healthcare authorities continues to be a global concern. We examined individual predictors of research utilization in management decisions of healthcare authorities in a local government’s context of Arua district in West Nile Uganda. The observational cross-sectional survey design was used, involving 225 questionnaires and nine key informant interviews, and the extent of influence of individual variables on research uptake was determined by estimation of predicted probabilities, and the corresponding odds ratios and coefficients using the binary logistic regression model. The results reveal that research utilization was significantly influenced by individual characteristics, whose overall predicted probability was 0.030 (p<0.05) with attitudinal variables being most significant, whereby belief in research-based HMDs (p= 0.020) or improved quality of HMDs (p= 0.012) recorded high corresponding odds ratios. Hence, the study substantiates the multifactorial nature of research utilization, being influenced to varying extents by individual factors, and emphasizes attitudinal change, information sharing and capacity building to increase uptake.

Key words: Research utilization, individual characteristics, research evidence, healthcare authorities, and healthcare management decisions.

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