Iran Journal of Nursing

  Background & Aims: Availability of scientific research at high levels of evidence, provide an appropriate context for evidence-based nursing. This study aims to identify the levels of evidence of nursing theses and dissertations in type-one medical universities of Iran in a period of twenty years.

  Material &Methods: This is a descriptive survey on 1810 nursing theses and 54 dissertations. The abstract and/or method section of the theses and dissertations during 1991-2010 was reviewed and then their levels of evidence were determined by comparing these data with the table of evidence-based research assessment. Descriptive analysis on data was performed using SPSS-PC (v. 16).

  Results: A large percentage of the theses (60.7%) and dissertations (92.6%) were at the 6^th level of evidence. First and 5^th levels of evidence were not seen in Masters Theses, and none of the 1^st, 4^th and 5^th levels of evidence was found in PhD dissertations. The lowest percentages (1.9%) of theses were situated at the 4^th level. Only 7.4% of the dissertations were at the 2^nd & 3^rd levels of evidence. The trend of theses and dissertations during this period revealed that the 6^th level of evidence is dominant. However, during 2005- 2010 the trend changed into performing research at the 2^nd & 3^rd levels of evidence.

 Conclusion: The results revealed that the majority of theses and dissertations in all educational fields and faculties are at the lowest (6^th) level of evidence during the studied period. Thus, regarding the importance of evidence-based practice for increasing the quality of nursing care, investigating approaches to promote and improve the level evidence of nursing theses and dissertations is recommended.

  Received: 18 Sep 2012

  Accepted: 6 Dec 2012