About the Irmat

Finalized as a pilot tool in the summer of 2023 as doctoral dissertation research, the Integrative Review Methodology Appraisal Tool (IRMAT, “ear-mat”) is designed to appraise whether recommended methodological elements are present in published integrative reviews in the nursing literature. The IRMAT demonstrates evidence of construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and inter-rater reliability. The IRMAT has implications for educating doctoral nursing students and nurses in clinical practice on appraising integrative reviews in the nursing literature. The IRMAT may also be used by editors and peer reviewers to appraise submitted nursing integrative reviews prior to publication.

The IRMAT was developed by Emily B. Kean, PhD, AHIP. Emily received a Masters of Science in Library Science from the University of Kentucky and completed a Nursing Research PhD from the University of Cincinnati in 2023, during which the pilot version of the IRMAT was completed. She has over fifteen years of experience working as a health information professional, the majority of which were spent as the Electronic Resources Librarian at the Christ Hospital Health Network in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2021, Emily was awarded membership in the Medical Library Association’s Academy of Health Information Professionals at the Distinguished level and was also inducted into the Beta Iota Chapter of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Research interests include using technology to facilitate the delivery of effective information literacy instruction, integrative reviews and expert literature searching methodologies, and nursing research education across the academic and professional continuum.

See Emily’s CV