Florence Nightingale is called “the mother of modern nursing.” She was the first one who started incorporating research into her practice. While providing patients with health care and support, nurses observe things that may need further investigation. This way, they become not only caretakers but also scientists.
Research topics in nursing are a way to gain valuable evidence-based knowledge while providing patient care. Moreover, they offer an opportunity to help other nurses by contributing to global healthcare. Some of the most pressing nursing research questions concern medical surgery, midwifery, and geriatrics, as well as the issues of leadership and management.
Need some inspiring topics for nursing students? Look no further! This article by Custom-writing.org experts contains 290 hot nursing research topics, as well as useful additional information and writing tips.
🔝 Top 10 Nursing Research Topics 2023
- The social effect of the opioid crisis.
- Cancel culture and women’s health.
- Economic aspects of euthanasia.
- Nursing adaptation for a digital era.
- The gender pay gap in nursing.
- Health issues of immigrant women.
- Should futile medical care be provided?
- Ways to improve diversity in nursing.
- Ethics of artificial hydration and nutrition.
- Overcoming vaccine hesitancy during pregnancy.
☑️ Research Topics in Nursing: How to Choose?
BSc students and interns often find it challenging to come up with a nursing research paper topic. Healthcare covers a lot of very diverse topics. It’s easy to get confused while trying to choose the most interesting one.
First of all, t is very important to narrow your focus. If the problem you’ve chosen is too large, it can be impossible to examine it properly. Remember: you don’t have to solve world problems in order to contribute to medical science. Choose a current topic which already has plenty of literature studies, and add something new to it. There are interesting nursing research questions in any area, be it social work, psychology, obstetrics, or clinical nursing.
You can choose a topic based on your personal experience. It can be something you observe in your family or an issue that made you interested in the nursing profession in the first place. You can look at the situation in your hometown or city to help you come up with an idea for evidence-based practice nursing research topics.
📜 Nursing Research Topics
Once you’ve chosen your area of interest, you are ready to formulate your thesis and write a research proposal. Below is a list of research questions examples for you to choose from.
🐥 Pediatric Nursing Research Topics
Ways of enhancing language development for children with developmental disabilities
- Evaluation of pragmatic language patterns in autistic children
- Taking care of children with congenital heart disease: psychological issues
- Childhood cancer treatment optimization: new ways
- Children with cancer and their families: psychological issues
- Cancer: health service delivery efficiency
- Radiation therapy: the response of the hematopoietic system in oncology patients
- Leukemia cells and the immune system: mechanisms of interaction
- Childhood acute leukemia: the use of molecular markers in diagnosis
- Blindness in children receiving oxygen therapy: risk-reducing strategies
- Early life exposures that promote heart disease later in life
- Role of early-life exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in childhood obesity
- Obesity in children and adolescents: prevention strategies
- Childhood obesity and other cardiovascular risk factors: epidemiologic research
- Childhood obesity: identification, screening, prevention, and management
- Stem cells and their usage in the treatment of pediatric diseases
- Early-life exposure to air pollution: health effects
- Prenatal exposure to nicotine: health effects
- Effects of early life stress on metabolic and cognitive development of children
- Asthma in children: diagnosis and management
- Asthma in children: monitoring techniques
- Opportunistic fungal infections: pathogenesis and treatment
- HHV6: pathogenesis, immunology, and treatment
- Meningitis in children: prevention and vaccination
- Vaccination against influenza in children: reactions and complications
- Common measles complications in children
- Surfactant replacement therapy for premature infants: beneficial effects
- Animal models for respiratory diseases: the investigation of pathogenesis
- Cells and molecules in lung health and disease: understanding the function
- Neurotrophin and neurotransmitter receptors: a molecular study
- New therapeutic approaches to developmental diseases of the nervous system
- Movement disorders in children: understanding and treatment
- Tourette syndrome in children: causes and treatment
- Neuroblastoma in children: understanding racial differences
- Understanding Metabolic Syndrome: symptoms and causes
- Anorexia and related changes in brain function and behavior
- Eating disorders in children: effects on growth and health
- Infant nutrition: prevention of obesity and eating disorders
- ADHD medication for children: long-term effects
- ADHD in children: efficacy of dance and music therapy
- Efficacy of mind-body therapy in children with ADHD
- Autism in children: benefits of meditation techniques
- Ear infections in children: diagnosis and treatment
- Acute renal insufficiency: nursing care and treatment
- Childhood nephrotic syndrome: nursing care and management
- Kidney stones in children: preventive strategies
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: development and symptoms
- Hypoplastic left heart syndrome: management strategies
- Children with type 1 diabetes from ethnic minorities: risk factors
👴 Geriatric Nursing Research Topics
- Age-Related Changes in Health: cardiovascular system
- Age-Related Changes in Nervous System and Cognition abilities in older adults
- Physiologic changes in the musculoskeletal system in older adults
- The effects of aging on the immune system
- Vaccination for older adults: benefits and challenges
- Urinary tract infections in older adults: risk factors and diagnosis
- Malnutrition in older adults: consequences and effects on organ systems
- Gastrointestinal tract disorders in older age: nursing care strategies
- Sensory system changes and impairments in older adults: nursing care strategies
- Assessment of physical function in older adults: effects of regular physical activity
- Oral health conditions in older adults: effects and treatment
- Ways of improving oral care for older people
- Oral hydration in older adults: ways of maintaining
- Dehydration in older adults: prevention, recognition, and treatment
- Diet as a risk factor for dementia
- Personalized diets for older adults and their role in healthy aging
- The role of diet in reducing the risk of osteoporosis
- Family caregiving of older cancer patients: psychological issues
- Taking care for seniors with chronic illness: psychological issues
- Risk factors for functional decline in older patients: ways of optimization
- Physical environment as a risk factor for functional decline in older patients
- Later-life depression: cause and risk factors
- Ophthalmic care for older patients: nursing strategies
- Medication adherence in patients with dementia: development and implementation of interventions
- Use of machine learning in predicting dementia in older adults: effectiveness and accuracy assessment
- Alzheimer’s disease: biological mechanisms and preventive measures
- Cognitive therapy for older patients with Alzheimer’s disease: effectiveness and strategies
- Delirium in elderly patients: prevention strategies
- Improving pain management in older patients: care strategies
- Falls and injury risk in older adults: prevention and management
- Adverse drug effects in elderly patients: interventions and care strategies
- Use of physical restraints: ethics of the issue
- Ethnicity as a risk factor for pressure ulcer development
- Excessive sleepiness as a risk factor of cognitive decline in elderly patients
- Alcohol use disorders in elderly patients: care strategies
- Substance use disorders in older adults: treatment and care options
- Management of sepsis in critically ill elderly patients
- Complications in critically ill patients due to prolonged hospital stay
- Heart failure in older adults: current therapeutic options
- Care of elderly surgical patients: ways of optimization
- Perioperative care of older adults: nursing strategies
- Medical emergencies associated with cancer treatment of elderly patients
- Cancer surgery in elderly patients: risk assessment
- Pancreatic cancer surgery in older adults: balancing risks and benefits
- Bladder cancer in older adults: risk factors and challenges
- Older patients with fragility hip fracture: care strategies
- Handling pressure ulcers in hip fracture patients
- Care of the older patients in the ED: nursing intervention
- Transitional care for elderly patients with chronic disease: care strategies
- Advanced care planning: nurse’s roles and strategies
🍼 Midwifery Nursing Research Topics
- Women with a disability: pregnancy and childbirth
- The effect of midwifery care in pregnancy, labor, birth, and the postnatal period
- Maternal and infant outcomes of caseload care
- Caseload midwifery care in ethnic minorities
- Ways of improving health outcomes for women and babies from ethnic minorities
- Depression and anxiety in new mothers: effects on the health of mothers and infants
- Postnatal depression: risk factors
- Effectiveness of peer support in preventing postnatal depression
- Telephone support as a means of reducing postnatal depression: a cost-effectiveness analysis
- Diabetes in pregnancy: risk factors and management
- Hypoglycemia in newborns: preventive measures
- Women’s experience of motherhood: attachment and mother-infant bonding
- Stress in midwives and nurses: causes and prevalence
- Group antenatal care: feasibility and acceptability
- The positive impact of early parenting education
- Midwifery continuity of care and its effectiveness.
- The role of community support in maintaining emotional health during pregnancy
- Birth plan and its effects on the birth experience
- Effects of prenatal yoga on women and infants
- Prolonged labor and its effect on birth experience in women
- Childbirth experience for autistic women
- Pain management in labor: relaxation techniques and therapies
- Cesarean section: risks and long-term effects
- Fear of childbirth: symptoms and treatments
- Parental experiences with premature and low birth weight infants
- Sleep disorders in new mothers: effects on mothers and infants
- Perinatal palliative care: the role of midwives in providing care and support to families
- Childbirth expectations and experience: effect on new mother’s mental health
- Advanced maternal age: risk factors
- Adverse pregnancy outcomes: causes and risk factors
- Periodontitis: effect on preterm birth and low birth weight in babies
- Spirituality in midwifery: effects on labor and delivery
- Obesity and pregnancy: labor intervention and outcomes
- Teamwork in midwifery: key concepts
- Power dynamics in midwifery care: initiating, building, and maintaining relationships
- Domestic violence against women: raising awareness among midwives
- Midwifery care for women of low socioeconomic status: benefits of understanding social context
- Psychological traumatic childbirth: contributing factors
- The role of midwives in the monitoring process of emergency care
- Fetal monitoring, screening, and other tests during pregnancy
- Weight management and physical activity in pregnancy
- Handling physical and emotional changes during pregnancy
- Facilitating and maintaining normal childbirth: strategies and practices
- Decision-making during birth: the role of midwives
- Midwifery care during the immediate postnatal period
- Engaging fathers in perinatal services: ways and strategies
- Skincare and hygiene for newborns and infants
- Immediate care of the newborns
- Infant feeding: methods and techniques
- Common feeding problems: identification and management
💆 Mental Health Research Topics in Nursing
- The connection between air pollution and Alzheimer’s disease
- Vitamin D Deficiency and long-term cognitive impairment among older patients
- Effects of meditation on patients with cognitive impairment
- The connection between social phobia and selective mutism
- Post-traumatic stress disorder: new prevention techniques
- Social media: effects on mental health among teenagers
- Stimulant treatments of ADHD
- Bipolar disorder: early detection and risk factors
- Bipolar disorder in families: genetic factors
- Effectiveness of deep brain stimulation in patients with depression
- Reconstruction of the sense of self in schizophrenia patients
- Understanding personal experience and phenomenology in patients with schizophrenia
- The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic attack treatment
- The connection between panic disorder and maladaptive behavior
- The connection between brain inflammation and OCD
- White matter abnormalities in patients with OCD
- The combined effects of TMS and therapy on patients with depression
- Changes in task performance under stress in patients with anxiety disorders
- Biological processes of generalized anxiety
- Depression in perimenopausal women
- Schizophrenia: genetic factors
- Schizophrenia: environmental factors
- Ways of diagnosing autism spectrum disorder in adults
- Ways of detecting early-stage dementia
- The connection between dopamine levels and autism spectrum disorders
- The connection between serotonin levels and autism spectrum disorders
- The connection between screen time and inattention problems in children with ADHD
- ADHD: prevention strategies
- The efficacy of mindfulness techniques in patients with social phobia
- The efficacy of paroxetine in treating patients with anxiety
- Etiology of anorexia nervosa
- The role of socio-cultural factors in the development of eating disorders
- Treatment of agoraphobia: new ways
- Seasonal affective disorder: summer and winter patterns
- Brain differences in patients with insomnia
- Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: brain mechanisms and risk factors
- The physical response to a traumatic experience in patients with PTSD
- Borderline personality disorder: brain factors
- The connection between traumatic events during childhood and the development of borderline personality disorder
- Dialectical behavior therapy in the treatment of patients with a borderline personality disorder
- Ways of diagnosing of psychogenic movement disorders
- Conduct disorder in children: ways of increasing awareness
- Adverse childhood experiences: the long-term effects
- Body dysmorphic disorder: diagnosis and treatment
- The mechanisms of body dysmorphic disorder: the use of brain imaging studies
- Adjustment disorder: diagnosis and treatment
- Schizotypal personality disorder: neurobiology and symptoms
- The efficacy of exposure therapy in the treatment of PTSD
- Codependency: ways of raising awareness
- Mood disorders in children: treatment options
🏊 Health Promotion Research Topics in Nursing
- Preventative medicine practices for seniors
- New ways of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in older age
- Communication and sharing of preventative medicine techniques: new ways
- Community-based exercise programs for older adults
- Late-life depression management programs for the elderly
- Planning meaningful activities with older adults as a means of reducing depressive symptoms
- Smoking cessation: the study of obstacles
- Ideas for quitting smoking: new techniques
- Youth inactivity: ways of raising awareness
- Motivation to change inactive behavior in young people
- Involvement of children in various physical activities: promotion strategies
- New ways of educating young people about the importance of having a positive body image
- The relationship between a healthy lifestyle promotion and social media: new educational strategies
- New ways of increasing cancer screening rates
- New strategies in fostering cancer-preventive behaviors
- Workplace wellness programs as ways of supporting healthy behavior
- Occupational health and safety programs for people working in dangerous conditions
- Maintenance of healthy work environments: new ways
- Workplace programs for raising awareness of AIDS
- Workplace programs for raising awareness of heart disease
- Workplace health promotion among low-paid workers: new strategies
- New ways of increasing workers’ participation in shaping the working environment
- Non-occupational factors in the general environment: ways of raising awareness
- Award-system as means of promotion of participation in workplace initiatives
- New ways of reducing exposure to cancer risk factors
- The effects of second-hand smoking: ways of raising awareness
- Healthy eating habits as a means of preventing the development of diet-associated cancers
- The connection between obesity and cancer: ways of raising awareness
- Alcohol use as a risk factor for cancer: ways of raising awareness
- The importance of vaccines for the hepatitis B virus in cancer prevention
- Cancer-causing air pollution: ways of raising awareness
- The connection between air pollution and lung cancer
- UV radiation and skin cancer: ways of raising awareness
- Physical inactivity as a major cause of death in developed countries
- Physical activity promotion among people of low socioeconomic background: challenges and opportunities
- Physical activity promotion among people with disabilities: challenges and opportunities
- Eating habits and behaviors in children: ways of influencing
- The efficacy of school-based sex education programs
- Cyberbullying: ways of raising awareness and prevention
- Workplace policies: depression management promotion
- The efficacy of school health promotion
- The role of school-based interventions in preventing childhood mental health problems
- Brain health programs: creating new strategies on a small budget
- Brain exercise: understanding key principles
- Communication of useful health information to lay community: new ways
- Managing the global epidemic: ways of raising health awareness
- Disease outbreaks: the role of health promotion
- HIV prevention: new ways of health promotion
- Ways of raising awareness on the routes of transmitting infectious diseases
- Healthy childhood development: health education for children
💡 Nursing Topics for Discussion
🔝 Top 10 Nursing Research Questions
- What’s the connection between psychiatric ward design and aggressive behavior?
- How can computerized nursing records improve the outcomes for patients?
- Do changes that occur in the brain due to dementia cause pain?
- How can tweet reminders help teenagers with type 1 diabetes maintain lower blood sugars?
- What’s the efficacy of yoga as a treatment in reducing lymphedema in cancer patients?
- How can peer support intervention help to prevent suicides among female high school students?
- Is it possible to link veterans’ suicide rates to the timing and location of suicide prevention appointments?
- What can be done to improve the sustainability of operating rooms?
- What are the roles of nurse managers in turnover intervention among nursing staff?
- What are the ways of preventing cachexia in cancer patients receiving radiation and chemotherapy?
📑 Types of Nursing Research
When writing nursing research, you need to use a particular research design. Typically, the choice of design depends on your research question. There can be qualitative and quantitative nursing research topics.
🔢 Quantitative Research In Nursing
Quantitative research is aimed at gaining empirical evidence using deduction and generalization. This means gathering evidence to support or refute a particular theory and deciding to what extent the results can be generalized to a larger population.
Quantitative research can be non-experimental and experimental in design.
Non-experimental designs imply a description of what happens naturally, without intervention. They are usually not used to detect causes and effects and are not effective for making predictions. Non-experimental designs are classified as follows:
- Descriptive. Descriptive studies are centered on under-researched subjects and phenomena. You describe it, see how often it occurs, and categorize the information you’ve gained.
- Correlational. Correlational studies are aimed at the examination of relationships between the variables. You must measure the variables, analyze the results, and present statistics.
Experimental designs imply strict control from the researcher. They can be used for establishing cause-and-effect relationships, as well as predictions. The experiments are usually blind, which helps to avoid bias. Experimental designs are classified in the following way:
- True-experimental designs, in which cause-and-effect relationships are examined in a controlled environment. It includes studying two groups of people who receive different treatments, assigned randomly.
- Quasi-experimental designs, which differ from true experiments by the absence of random assignments.
🔬 Qualitative Research In Nursing
Qualitative research studies are focused on one’s personal experience. It is conducted through observation and interaction with patients via interviews, notes, and diaries. Induction is often used, by which you gain evidence to support a theory without generalizing the results.
Qualitative research study designs include four types:
- Phenomenology. Phenomenological research is aimed at describing the phenomena as it is experienced by an individual. In this study, you need to select people who are familiar with the particular phenomenon. You gain information from each participant and make a conclusion.
- Grounded theory. This type of study includes the influence of social processes on individuals. You would need to interview the subjects themselves, as well as their relatives, spouses, etc. Then you synthesize the data into one theory.
- Ethnography. This type of research design is associated with the influence of a particular culture on individuals. It involves describing unique attributes of a culture from the insider’s perspective.
- Narrative inquiry. Narrative inquiry is a research study design that is based on an interpretation of personal accounts of the participants. You ask your subjects to talk about their experiences, and then you analyze their narratives. Contents, as well as the structure of the narratives, must be taken into account.
👋 Conclusion
As you can see, there are great many research topics for nursing students to choose from! See what suits you best and formulate the idea for your own project. You can then publish your results in a nursing research journal article and start a discussion with other nurses around the world.
If you’ve chosen an evidence-based practice nursing research topic, make sure that you find suitable human subjects for your experiment. You can ask your friends or make online questionnaires to help you conduct your research. Always take care of your subjects and protect their rights.
Once you’ve chosen your topic, study the available literature. See if there’s anything you can critique or question. This type of research is just as useful as applied research, as it helps to keep medical science relevant by constantly checking for obsolete information.
Find the topic, choose the design for your research, set yourself clear goals – and write your best nursing research paper or reflective essay! Good luck!
🤔 Nursing Research FAQs
Nursing research is a type of study conducted by nurses during their practice. It helps them to gain evidence on the effectiveness of different treatments. Nursing research can be used to demonstrate the trustworthiness of new methods in medicine, as well as to predict outcomes for patients with illnesses or injuries.
The scientific activity of nurses is essential for the medical community. Nurses help to move medicine forward by challenging traditional practices with fresh ideas. Their research is usually aimed at enhancing professional practice and improving nursing activities. The topics include both physical and mental health.
The primary sources of nursing research are experience and scientific knowledge. Your personal experience as a nurse is especially important because it allows you to observe and gather first-hand information about various medical conditions. Scientific knowledge is then used for the evaluation and analysis of the collected data.
Sampling theory in medical science is a study of gathering information about a population by investigating only a part of it. To do that, you need to collect samples from a group of individuals who all share a common trait. A statistic is then estimated and applied to the whole population. Sampling is often conducted as part of nursing research because it allows making conclusions without testing it with all people.
Qualitative research in nursing is aimed at gathering information about patients’ subjective experiences. It is usually conducted in the form of interviews, notes, and diaries. It helps in understanding complex phenomena and is often used in psychology. Sometimes nurses themselves are interviewed about their working conditions. This type of research allows nurses to make their practice better by continually learning from experience.
Extraneous variables may affect the results of your research and even threaten its validity. They are hard to control, but their influence can be reduced in the following ways:
- Assign the subjects to treatment and control groups as randomly as possible.
- Match your samples by distributing people with different variables, such as age and gender, as evenly as possible.
- Maintain objectivity by avoiding bias.
- Adjust the results for the effects of extraneous variables through statistical analysis.
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thanks for the presentation, now I know who to turn to for help
Thank you for your feedback, Frank!
Hello dear
Thank you for your kind presentation like this hot topics .
Am nursing master student and I need topic for my thesis.if you can help me
Hello, Alaa! Thank you for the great feedback!
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