Hindawi Publishing Corporation Nursing Research and Practice Volume 2013, Article ID 183984, 6 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/183984 Research Article Engaging Nurses in Research for a Randomized Clinical Trial of a Behavioral Health Intervention Lona Roll, 1 Kristin Stegenga, 2 Verna Hendricks-Ferguson, 3 Yvonne J. Barnes, 4 Brooke Cherven, 5 Sharron L. Docherty, 6 Sheri L. Robb, 7 and Joan E. Haase 7 1 he University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 333 North Santa Rosa, San Antonio, TX 78207, USA 2 Children’s Mercy Hospital, 2401 Gillham Road, Kansas City, MO 64108, USA 3 St. Louis University School of Nursing, 3525 Caroline Street, St. Louis, MO 63104-1099, USA 4 Washington University School of Medicine, One Children’s Place, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA 5 Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, 2015 Uppergate Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA 6 Duke University School of Nursing, DUMC 3322, 307 Trent Drive, Durham, NC 27710, USA 7 Indiana University School of Nursing, 1111 Middle Drive NU 439W, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5107, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Lona Roll; ljr5055@gmail.com Received 23 April 2013; Revised 30 July 2013; Accepted 5 August 2013 Academic Editor: Kate Khair Copyright © 2013 Lona Roll et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Nurse involvement in research is essential to the expansion of nursing science and improved care for patients. he research participation challenges encountered by nurses providing direct care (direct care nurses) include balancing patient care demands with research, adjusting to luctuating staf and patient volumes, working with interdisciplinary personnel, and feeling comfortable with their knowledge of the research process. he purpose of this paper is to describe eforts to engage nurses in research for the Stories and Music for Adolescent/Young Adult Resilience during Transplant (SMART) study. SMART was an NIH-funded, multisite, randomized, behavioral clinical trial of a music therapy intervention for adolescents/young adults (AYA) undergoing stem cell transplant for an oncology condition. he study was conducted at 8 sites by a large multidisciplinary team that included direct care nurses, advanced practice nurses, and nurse researchers, as well as board-certiied music therapists, clinical research coordinators, and physicians. Eforts to include direct care nurses in the conduct of this study fostered mutual respect across disciplines in both academic and clinical settings. 1. Introduction Over the years, there have been many recommendations to close the research/practice gap, including eforts to increase the availability and applicability of the evidence for practice through the involvement of direct care nurses on research teams [1–5]. Academic nurse researchers have had an impor- tant role in advancing evidence-based practice; unfortunately, direct care nurses are frequently absent from the research team [6]. he American Nurses Association (ANA) advocates nurse involvement in research, stating, “all nurses working alone or in collaboration with others can participate in the advancement of the profession through the development, evaluation, dissemination, and application of knowledge in practice” [7]. Having opportunities to observe and engage in ongoing research is the key to encourage nurses’ participation in research [6]. Yet, full involvement of direct care nurses in the conduct of clinical research is challenging because these nurses oten lack the knowledge/skills, support, and time needed for broad immersion [6, 8]. A deeper under- standing of some of these challenges, as well as possible solutions, may assist in fostering staf nurses’ involvement in clinical research. his paper reports on observations of direct care nurse engagement in a large multisite, behavioral intervention study and strategies employed to foster and maintain that engagement.