Another Twist on the Double Helix: Research and Practice

Abstract

The first line of this very familiar paragraph by Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities has been repeating itself in my brain now for about six months. After considerable thought, I decided to make the analysis of why this passage seems so relevant, the focus of my presentation. During these six months I have experienced, on the one hand, tremendous optimism, excitement, and a sense of endless possibilities; on the other, a sense of despair, hopelessness, and helplessness about nursing. My excitement is generated by the current opportunities for nursing research that have never been available to us before. My despair is found in the practice environment and the profound unhappiness expressed by many of our current practitioners of nursing who work in hospitals in Toronto. This disequilibrium, I believe, has serious implications for the continued development of nursing research, because of the inextricable relationship between nursing research and nursing practice. Fawcett (1978) introduced the idea of the double helix in her paper on the relationship between research and theory. I think a similar double helix exists between research and practice and hence the tide of my presentation. I plan to do the following: 1. Reiterate the fundamental relationship between research and practice for those individuals who have yet to be convinced. 2. Review the position of nursing research in this country and contrast it with the situation of the practice environment. 3. Explore the implications in this environment for the conduct of research through some examples.