Families of children with a chronic health condition often feel powerless in satisfying the health care needs of their child and in sustaining their family life. A small body of scholarly literature suggests that family empowerment is an intervention that nurses could use to help these families. This interactive intervention is designed to aid families through the empowerment process, which consists of phases that correspond to the amount of trust and decision making a family shares with health professionals. Intervention activities are based on the assumption that all people have existing strengths and capabilities and the capacity to grow and become more competent. Suggested family outcomes of the intervention include negotiation with health professionals, minimization of the effect of the chronic condition on the child and siblings, rearrangement of family roles and responsibilities, satisfaction of the health care needs of the child, and lowered health care use and costs.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Buchanan, M.
, & Gerrity, P. L. (1989). Community wellness outreach: Family health through empowerment. In Nursing centers: Meeting the demands for quality health care. Proceedings from the 4th Bienniel Conference on Nursing Centers (pp. 111-116). NLN Publication (21-2311). New York: NLN Press.
2.
Caporael-Katz, B.
(1983). Health, self-care and power: Shifting the balance. Topics in Clinical Nursing, 5(3), 31-41.
3.
Craft, M. J.
, & Willadsen, J. A. (1992). Interventions related to family. Nursing Clinics of North America, 27, 517-540.
4.
Deatrick, J. A.
, & Knafl, K. A. (1990). Management behaviors: Day-to-day adjustments to childhood chronic conditions. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 5, 15-22.
5.
Dixon, D. M.
(1996). Unifying concepts in parents’ experiences with health care providers. Journal of Family Nursing, 2, 111-132.
6.
Dunst, C. J.
, & Trivette, C. M. (1996). Empowerment, effective helpgiving practices and family-centered care. Pediatric Nursing, 22, 334-343.
7.
Dunst, C. J.
, Trivette, C. M., & Deal, A. (1988). Enabling and empowering families. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.
8.
Faux, S. A.
, & Knafl, K. A. (1996). Family-health care provider relationships: The new paradigm. Journal of Family Nursing, 2, 107-110.
9.
Feetham, S. B.
(1992). Family outcomes: Conceptual and methodological issues. In Patient outcomes research: Examining the effectiveness of nursing practice. Proceedings of the State of the Science Conferences sponsored by the National Center for Nursing Research (pp. 103-111) (NIH Publication No. 93-3411). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
10.
Freire, P.
(1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder & Herder.
11.
Gibson, C. H.
(1991). A concept analysis of empowerment. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 16, 354-361.
12.
Gibson, C. H.
(1995). The process of empowerment in mothers of chronically ill children. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 21, 1201-1210.
13.
Grace, V. M.
(1991). The marketing of empowerment and the construction of the health consumer: A critique of health promotion. International Journal of Health Services, 21, 329-343.
14.
Igoe, J. B.
(1991). Empowerment of children and youth for consumer self-care. American Journal of Health Promotion, 6(1), 55-65.
15.
Iowa Intervention Project
. (1996). Nursing interventions classification (NIC) (2nd ed.). St. Louis, MO: C. V. Mosby.
16.
Iowa Outcomes Project
. (1997). Nursing outcomes classification (NOC). St. Louis, MO: C. V. Mosby.
17.
Kalyanpur, M.
, & Rao, S. S. (1991). Empowering low-income black families of handicapped children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 61, 523-532.
18.
Kieffer, C. H.
(1984). Citizen empowerment: A developmental perspective. In J. Rappaport, C. Swift, & R. Hess (Eds.), Studies in empowerment: Steps toward understanding and action (pp. 9-36). New York: Hawthorne.
19.
Kleinman, A.
, Eisenberg, L., & Good, B. (1978). Culture, illness, and care: Clinical lessons from anthropologic and cross-cultural research. Annals of Internal Medicine, 88, 251-258.
20.
Knafl, K.
, Breitmayer, B., Gallo, A., & Zoeller, L. (1992). Parents’ views of health care providers: An exploration of the components of a positive working relationship. Children’s Health Care, 21, 90-95.
21.
Knafl, K.
, Breitmayer, B., Gallo, A., & Zoeller, L. (1996). Family response to childhood chronic illness: Description of management styles. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 11, 315-326.
22.
Knafl, K. A.
(1992). Family outcomes: Family-practitioner interface. In Patient outcomes research: Examining the effectiveness of nursing practice. Proceedings of the State of the Science Conferences sponsored by the National Center for Nursing Research (pp. 97-102) (NIH Publication No. 93-3411). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
23.
Krouse, H. J.
, & Roberts, S. J. (1989). Nurse-patient interactive styles: Power, control, and satisfaction. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 11, 717-725.
24.
Lazare, A.
, & Eisenthal, S. (1979). A negotiated approach to the clinical encounter: II. Attending to the patient’s perspective. In A. Lazare (Ed.), Outpatient psychiatry(pp. 157-171). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.
25.
Leahey, M.
, & Harper-Jaques, S. (1996). Family-nurse relationships: Core assumptions and clinical implications. Journal of Family Nursing, 2, 133-151.
26.
Lynch, I.
, & Tiedje, L. B. (1991). Working with multiproblem families: An intervention model for community health nurses. Public Health Nursing, 8, 147-153.
27.
Malin, N.
, & Teasdale, K. (1991). Caring versus empowerment: Considerations for nursing practice. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 16, 657-662.
28.
McCubbin, M. A.
(1993). Family stress theory and the development of nursing knowledge about family adaptation. In S. L. Feetham, S. B. Meister, J. M. Bell, & C. L. Gillis (Eds.), The nursing of families (pp. 46-58). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
29.
Nissim, L. G.
, & Sten, M. B. (1991). The ventilator-assisted child: A case for empowerment. Pediatric Nursing, 17, 507-511.
30.
Nugent, K.
, Hughes, R., Ball, B., & Davis, K. (1992). A practice model for a parent support group. Pediatric Nursing, 18, 11-16.
31.
Rafael, A.R.F.
(1995). Advocacy and empowerment: Dichotomous or synchronous concepts?Advances in Nursing Science, 18, 25-32.
32.
Rissel, C.
(1994). Empowerment: The holy grail of health promotion?Health Promotion International, 9, 39-47.
33.
Roberts, S. J.
, & Krouse, H. J. (1988). Enhancing self care through active negotiation. Nurse Practitioner, 13, 46-51.
34.
Roberts, S. J.
, & Krouse, H. J. (1990). Negotiation as a strategy to empower self-care. Holistic Nursing Practice, 4(2), 30-36.
35.
Roberts, S. J.
, Krouse, H. J., & Michaud, P. (1995). Negotiated and nonnegotiated nurse-patient interactions. Clinical Nursing Research, 4, 67-77.
36.
Robinson, C. A.
(1994). Nursing interventions with families: A demand or an invitation to change?Journal of Advanced Nursing, 19, 897-904.
37.
Robinson, C. A.
(1996). Health care relationships revisited. Journal of Family Nursing, 2, 152-173.
38.
Rodwell, C. M.
(1996). An analysis of the concept of empowerment. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 23, 305-313.
39.
Schulz, A. J.
, Israel, B. A., Zimmerman, M. A., & Checkoway, B. N. (1995). Empowerment as a multi-level construct: Perceived control at the individual, organizational and community levels. Health Education Research, 10, 309-327.
40.
Schwartz-Barcott, D.
, & Kim, H. S. (1993). An expansion and elaboration of the hybrid model of concept development. In B.L. Rodgers & K.A. Knafl (Eds.), Concept development in nursing: Foundations, techniques, and applications (pp. 107-133). Philadelphia: Saunders.
41.
Skelton, R.
(1995). Nursing and empowerment: Concepts and strategies. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 19, 415-423.
42.
Wallerstein, N.
(1992). Powerlessness, empowerment, and health: Implications for health promotion programs. American Journal of Health Promotion, 6, 197-205.
43.
Wuest, J.
, & Stern, P. N. (1991). Empowerment in primary health care: The challenge for nurses. Qualitative Health Research, 1, 80-99.
44.
Zerwekh, J. V.
(1992). The practice of empowerment and coercion by expert public health nurses. Image, 24, 101-105.
