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Papers by Heather McDonald

The Canadian nurse, 2007

Knowledge translation is an interactive, dynamic approach to the uptake of evidence-based knowled... more Knowledge translation is an interactive, dynamic approach to the uptake of evidence-based knowledge. In this article, the authors present a collaborative model for knowledge translation that grew out of a program of research focusing on the experiences of patients from ethnoculturally diverse groups as they were discharged home from hospital. Research findings highlight issues around gaps in the continuity of services and language and communication. The authors discuss a number of knowledge translation initiatives that were developed to address these gaps. Key to the success of this process has been a collaborative relationship between researchers and practitioners that is grounded in the shared goal of knowledge translation to support ethically sound decision-making in the delivery of health-care services.

The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmières, 2010

This article is based on a knowledge translation (KT) study of the transition of patients from ho... more This article is based on a knowledge translation (KT) study of the transition of patients from hospital to home. It focuses on the lessons learned about the challenges of translating research-derived critical knowledge in practice settings. The authors situate the article in current discourses about KT; discuss their understanding of the nature of critical knowledge; and present themes from their body of research, which comprises the knowledge that was translated. The findings have the potential to guide future KT research that focuses on the uptake of critical knowledge in nursing practice.

Routledge International Handbook of Qualitative Nursing Research, 2012

Women's Studies International Forum, 2007

Ethnographic research is underpinned by theoretical perspectives that guide the ways data are col... more Ethnographic research is underpinned by theoretical perspectives that guide the ways data are collected and analyzed. Researchers typically engage in data collection, however, as research projects increase in size and complexity, the solo researcher in the field is often ...

Research in Nursing & Health, 2008

There is an emerging discourse of knowledge translation that advocates a shift away from unidirec... more There is an emerging discourse of knowledge translation that advocates a shift away from unidirectional research utilization and evidencebased practice models toward more interactive models of knowledge transfer. In this paper, we describe how our participatory approach to knowledge translation developed during an ongoing program of research concerning equitable care for diverse populations. At the core of our approach is a collaborative relationship between researchers and practitioners, which underpins the knowledge translation cycle, and occurs simultaneously with data collection/analysis/synthesis. We discuss lessons learned including: the This article is based on a program of research funded by the Canadian Institutes

Nursing Philosophy, 2009

Knowledge translation has been widely taken up as an innovative process to facilitate the uptake ... more Knowledge translation has been widely taken up as an innovative process to facilitate the uptake of research-derived knowledge into health care services. Drawing on a recent research project, we engage in a philosophic examination of how knowledge translation might serve as vehicle for the transfer of critically oriented knowledge regarding social justice, health inequities, and cultural safety into clinical practice. Through an explication of what might be considered disparate traditions (those of critical inquiry and knowledge translation), we identify compatibilities and discrepancies both within the critical tradition, and between critical inquiry and knowledge translation. The ontological and epistemological origins of the knowledge to be translated carry implications for the synthesis and translation phases of knowledge translation. In our case, the studies we synthesized were informed by various critical perspectives and hence we needed to reconcile differences that exist within the critical tradition. A review of the history of critical inquiry served to articulate the nature of these differences while identifying common purposes around which to strategically coalesce. Other challenges arise when knowledge translation and critical inquiry are brought together. Critique is one of the hallmark methods of critical inquiry and, yet, the engagement required for knowledge translation between researchers and health care administrators, practitioners, and other stakeholders makes an antagonistic stance of critique problematic. While knowledge translation offers expanded views of evidence and the complex processes of knowledge exchange, we have been alerted to the continual pull toward epistemologies and methods reminiscent of the positivist paradigm by their instrumental views of knowledge and assumptions of objectivity and political neutrality. These types of tensions have been productive for us as a research team in prompting a critical reconceptualization of knowledge translation.

The Canadian nurse, 2007

Knowledge translation is an interactive, dynamic approach to the uptake of evidence-based knowled... more Knowledge translation is an interactive, dynamic approach to the uptake of evidence-based knowledge. In this article, the authors present a collaborative model for knowledge translation that grew out of a program of research focusing on the experiences of patients from ethnoculturally diverse groups as they were discharged home from hospital. Research findings highlight issues around gaps in the continuity of services and language and communication. The authors discuss a number of knowledge translation initiatives that were developed to address these gaps. Key to the success of this process has been a collaborative relationship between researchers and practitioners that is grounded in the shared goal of knowledge translation to support ethically sound decision-making in the delivery of health-care services.

The Canadian journal of nursing research = Revue canadienne de recherche en sciences infirmières, 2010

This article is based on a knowledge translation (KT) study of the transition of patients from ho... more This article is based on a knowledge translation (KT) study of the transition of patients from hospital to home. It focuses on the lessons learned about the challenges of translating research-derived critical knowledge in practice settings. The authors situate the article in current discourses about KT; discuss their understanding of the nature of critical knowledge; and present themes from their body of research, which comprises the knowledge that was translated. The findings have the potential to guide future KT research that focuses on the uptake of critical knowledge in nursing practice.

Routledge International Handbook of Qualitative Nursing Research, 2012

Women's Studies International Forum, 2007

Ethnographic research is underpinned by theoretical perspectives that guide the ways data are col... more Ethnographic research is underpinned by theoretical perspectives that guide the ways data are collected and analyzed. Researchers typically engage in data collection, however, as research projects increase in size and complexity, the solo researcher in the field is often ...

Research in Nursing & Health, 2008

There is an emerging discourse of knowledge translation that advocates a shift away from unidirec... more There is an emerging discourse of knowledge translation that advocates a shift away from unidirectional research utilization and evidencebased practice models toward more interactive models of knowledge transfer. In this paper, we describe how our participatory approach to knowledge translation developed during an ongoing program of research concerning equitable care for diverse populations. At the core of our approach is a collaborative relationship between researchers and practitioners, which underpins the knowledge translation cycle, and occurs simultaneously with data collection/analysis/synthesis. We discuss lessons learned including: the This article is based on a program of research funded by the Canadian Institutes

Nursing Philosophy, 2009

Knowledge translation has been widely taken up as an innovative process to facilitate the uptake ... more Knowledge translation has been widely taken up as an innovative process to facilitate the uptake of research-derived knowledge into health care services. Drawing on a recent research project, we engage in a philosophic examination of how knowledge translation might serve as vehicle for the transfer of critically oriented knowledge regarding social justice, health inequities, and cultural safety into clinical practice. Through an explication of what might be considered disparate traditions (those of critical inquiry and knowledge translation), we identify compatibilities and discrepancies both within the critical tradition, and between critical inquiry and knowledge translation. The ontological and epistemological origins of the knowledge to be translated carry implications for the synthesis and translation phases of knowledge translation. In our case, the studies we synthesized were informed by various critical perspectives and hence we needed to reconcile differences that exist within the critical tradition. A review of the history of critical inquiry served to articulate the nature of these differences while identifying common purposes around which to strategically coalesce. Other challenges arise when knowledge translation and critical inquiry are brought together. Critique is one of the hallmark methods of critical inquiry and, yet, the engagement required for knowledge translation between researchers and health care administrators, practitioners, and other stakeholders makes an antagonistic stance of critique problematic. While knowledge translation offers expanded views of evidence and the complex processes of knowledge exchange, we have been alerted to the continual pull toward epistemologies and methods reminiscent of the positivist paradigm by their instrumental views of knowledge and assumptions of objectivity and political neutrality. These types of tensions have been productive for us as a research team in prompting a critical reconceptualization of knowledge translation.