EONS Research Working Group brings in a culture of critical thinking Overcoming cultural barriers Jorge Freitas is the Portuguese representative on the EONS Research Working Group. Here he describes what this involves and how it benefits his professional life and research at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology, Porto. He also explores cancer nursing research in Portugal. Serving on the EONS Research Working Group has been a challenge for me, but also an opportunity to develop research in oncology nursing, in collaboration with the Portuguese Oncology Nursing Association (AEOP). A culture of critical thinking and the ability to formulate research questions that can be answered are useful for the development of clinical care and fundamentally necessary for the acquisition and exchange of knowledge of clinical practices. It is equally important for the development of European research to define a European platform for lines of inquiry that may be similar across the different countries and can be considered and implemented by several European nursing associations and societies. European countries have different barriers to development and implementation of research and the working group can develop strategies to help nurses and local organisations reduce and overcome these barriers. By facilitating and promoting access to the scientific activities of European nurses, the working group should promote strategies, including the identification of
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reference oncology hospitals, to facilitate the development of local research, with the contribution of associations and local societies. These institutions can work as networks, with EONS having a facilitating role in collaboration with the Research Working Group. Research projects must comply with European Commission’s European Research Area and should meet the needs of their specific research. In Portugal, research in oncology nursing is primarily focused on academic work – Master’s theses and work in different nursing specialties, where oncology is one of the specialisation areas but not a speciality in its own right. Therefore there is a more limited development of research purely in oncology.
Research in clinical practice is poorly structured, creating difficulties in the development of scientific evidence-based nursing. Hospitals and units do not have an enabling framework for the development of research. In many situations, they create barriers to nurses and associations in obtaining permits and support to do research. Furthermore, there is a gap in evidence-based nursing where nurses are able to produce and publish scientifically-validated knowledge from the research needs of each hospital and greater interconnection with the Portuguese Nursing Schools. These barriers have created a severe constraint on the production of knowledge. On the whole, Portuguese nurses are well-prepared to develop scientific research, and most cancer centres have good logistic conditions, but there is a missing step in the inclusion of a research culture. The existence of our association and its active role in discussing these difficulties must contribute to the reduction of these barriers. I strongly believe that the future of oncology nursing research in Portugal will be developed within this challenging environment and could also make a good contribution to European Oncology practice. Jorge Freitas is Vice-President of the Portuguese Oncology Nursing Association (AEOP), and Coordinating Editor of the influential Portuguese oncology nursing magazine, Onco.news.