Examining Appreciative Inquiry as a knowledge translation intervention in pain management.

Despite a solid evidence base for pain management, pain is not always well managed in practice. Interventions to implement pain management evidence need to be shifted from a focus on individual characteristics to knowledge translation strategies that are grounded in theory and attend to the organizational context and social dimension of translating evidence into practice. The authors examine Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as an innovative knowledge translation intervention in the area of pain management in nursing. Their aims are to advance the current state of knowledge translation interventions in pain management and to examine the usefulness of potential interventions based on their congruence with theory. The theory and practice of AI are compared to the concept of knowledge translation and the elements of the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework. Discussion is grounded in pain management in nursing.