Use of Arts - based Methods in Knowledge Translation Processes

In this article, we situate arts-based health research in the contextual background of evidencebased medicine, knowledge translation and qualitative health research to explain why the ethics of doing arts-based health research has received little attention until now. Then, we present an overview of the ethical issues reported in scientific publications by arts-based health researchers. Finally, we discuss the utility of the literature on ethics and arts-based health research for guiding practice in this type of research. Contextual background Evidence-based medicine Knowledge translation is presently a major theme in health research. The concept emerged in the aftermath of the evidence-based medicine (EBM) movement which can be traced back to the mid1980s (Estabrooks et al., 2008). EBM aims at integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available clinical evidence from systematic research (Sackett et al., 1996). Despite forceful criticism regarding, for instance, the belief that EBM can identify “the” “rational”, “decisive” (Borgerson,