Creating and Capitalizing on Opportunities to Reduce Poverty: The Process and Power of Integrated Knowledge Translation

Abstract

This thesis describes the experiences of partners involved in integrated knowledge translation (iKT)—a poorly understood process wherein partners from diverse professional spheres (e.g. community, government, and academia) work together to ensure research generated is relevant for the context of its intended application. The partnership under study—Putting Research to Work—is centered on the issue of family poverty in Edmonton, Alberta. Through an iterative and inductive process of qualitative description using previously generated data, I present partners experiences on how to offset structural and political barriers, and create and capitalize on opportunities to use research in government. Two papers (Chapter IV and V) capture these findings. In the discussion and conclusion (Chapter VI), I delineate why and how these findings pose relevance to nursing.