It is time to acknowledge and act on the importance of power in integrated knowledge translation

Abstract

Abstract Integrated knowledge translation (IKT) has emerged as an approach to research centered on collaboration between researchers and knowledge users, particularly in health research. There has been a growing focus on power within the IKT literature, especially the concern that overlooking power inequities within IKT partnerships may reproduce forms of knowledge production and dissemination that do not align with IKT’s aspirations of shared decision making to produce useful and usable research findings. However, there remain significant gaps in our understanding of how to address and attend to power in IKT. The lack of conceptual precision around power complicates these efforts. In this commentary, we draw on existing literatures that have grappled with the notion of power to sensitize those who study and engage in IKT to the importance of power and to identify helpful ways of thinking about power in IKT. We propose that it is time to not only acknowledge the importance of power in IKT but also to develop empirically based strategies through which the many dimensions of power can be identified and navigated.