title: Factors influencing research engagement: research interest, confidence and experience in an Australian speech-language pathology workforce.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent initiatives within an Australia public healthcare service have seen a focus on increasing the research capacity of their workforce. One of the key initiatives involves encouraging clinicians to be research generators rather than solely research consumers. As a result, baseline data of current research capacity are essential to determine whether initiatives encouraging clinicians to undertake research have been effective. Speech pathologists have previously been shown to be interested in conducting research within their clinical role; therefore they are well positioned to benefit from such initiatives. The present study examined the current research interest, confidence and experience of speech language pathologists (SLPs) in a public healthcare workforce, as well as factors that predicted clinician research engagement.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected via an online survey emailed to an estimated 330 SLPs working within Queensland, Australia. The survey consisted of 30 questions relating to current levels of interest, confidence and experience performing specific research tasks, as well as how frequently SLPs had performed these tasks in the last 5 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although 158 SLPs responded to the survey, complete data were available for only 137. Respondents were more confident and experienced with basic research tasks (e.g., finding literature) and less confident and experienced with complex research tasks (e.g., analysing and interpreting results, publishing results). For most tasks, SLPs displayed higher levels of interest in the task than confidence and experience. Research engagement was predicted by highest qualification obtained, current job classification level and overall interest in research.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Respondents generally reported levels of interest in research higher than their confidence and experience, with many respondents reporting limited experience in most research tasks. Therefore SLPs have potential to benefit from research capacity building activities to increase their research skills in order to meet organisational research engagement objectives. However, these findings must be interpreted with the caveats that a relatively low response rate occurred and participants were recruited from a single state-wide health service, and therefore may not be representative of the wider SLP workforce.
authors.affiliation: Speech Pathology Department, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Finch
authors.forename: Petrea
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cornwell
authors.forename: Elizabeth C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: McPhail
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007587:Job Description; D008297:Male; D011793:Queensland; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013066:Speech-Language Pathology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis