Abstract
Objectives
To identify gaps in procedural approaches to knowledge translation and outline a more relational approach that addresses health inequities based on creating collaborative environments for reasonable action.
Methods
A literature review encompassing approaches to critical inquiry of the institutional conditions in which knowledge is created combined with a process for encouraging reflexive professional practice provide the conceptual foundation for our approach, called equity-focused knowledge translation (EqKT).
Results
The EqKT approach creates a matrix through which teams of knowledge stakeholders (researchers, practitioners, and policymakers) can set common ground for taking collaborative action on health inequities.
Conclusions
Our approach can contribute to the call by the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Healths for more reasonable action on health inequities by being incorporated into numerous public health settings and processes. Further steps include empirical applications and evaluations of EqKT in real world applications.
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Notes
The “First Wave” refers to the biomedical perspective in health research, which, in its focus on physiological vulnerabilities and clinical outcomes, has limited relevance to health equities, except insofar as it takes up the lion’s share of health research funding in Canada and around the world.
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Masuda, J.R., Zupancic, T., Crighton, E. et al. Equity-focused knowledge translation: a framework for “reasonable action” on health inequities. Int J Public Health 59, 457–464 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-013-0520-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-013-0520-z