Toward the assessment of psychological empowerment in health promotion: initial tests of validity and reliability

Abstract

Because of the importance of empowerment in health promotion, the measure ment of empowerment is a priority for health promotion research. The present study sought to develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess psychological empowerment and to resolve the theoretical question of whether psychological empowerment is a topic-specific or general construct. University of Minnesota employees (n = 160) completed two different versions of empowerment questionnaires. One of the questionnaires measured general empowerment; the other was specific to alcohol use prevention. Reasonable reliability was demonstrated in a previously developed general empowerment instrument (Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.84) and for an alcohol-specific instrument (Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.78). Construct validity for the alcohol- specific instrument was demonstrated by appropriate significant correlations between sub- scales and overall scores for both instruments. Predictive validity tests partially supported the concept that psychological empowerment is topic-specific, although further testing with a more representative population may be needed to resolve this question. The results suggest that the alcohol-specific psychological empowerment instrument could be used in the evaluation of community alcohol abuse prevention programmes.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Chavis D.M. and Newbrough J.R. (1986). The meaning of "community" in community psychology . Journal of Community Psychology; 14 (4), 335-340

DeVellis R. F (1991). Scale development- Theory and application. Applied Social Research Methods Series Volume 26 Newbury Park: Sage Publications

Eng E. , Salmon M.E. and Mullan F. (1992). Community empowerment: the critical base for primary health care. Family and Community Health; 15 (1), 1-12

Frans D.J. (1993). A scale for measuring social worker empowerment . Research on Social Work Practice; 3 (3), 312-328

Freire P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness. New York: Seabury Press

Miner J.K. and Ward S.E. (1992). Ecological health promotion: the promise of empowerment education. Journal of Health Education; 23 (7), 429-432

Perry C.L. , Williams C.L. , Forster J.L. , Wolfson M. , Wagenaar A.C. , Finnegan J.R. , McGOVERN P G, V-MORTENSON S, Komro K.A. and Anstine P. (1993). Background, conceptualization, and design of a communitywide research program on adolescent alcohol use: Project Northland. Health Education Research; 8 (1), 125-136

Rappaport J. (1981). In praise of paradox: a social policy of empowerment over prevention. American Journal of Community Psychology; 9(1), 1-25

Rappaport J. (1987). Terms of empowerment/exemplars of of prevention: towards a theory of community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology; 15 (2), 121-147

10.

Rappaport J. , Swift C. and Hess R. (1984). Studies in Empowerment: Steps toward understanding and action. New York: Haworth

11.

Rissel C. (1994). Empowerment: the holy grail of health promotion ? Health Promotion International; 9 (1), 39-47

12.

Rissel C. , Finnegan J. , Wolfson M. and Perry C. (in press). Factors which explain amount of participation in rural adolescent alcohol use prevention task forces. American Journal of Health Promotion

13.

Short P.M. and Rinehart J.S. (1992). School participant empowerment scale: assessment of level of empowerment within the school environment. Educational and Psychological Measurement; 52, 951-960

14.

Stevenson H.M. and Burke M. (1992). Bureaucratic logic in new social movement clothing: the limits of health promotion research. Canadian Journal of Public Health- Supplement 1; 83, s47-53

15.

Swift C. and Levin G. (1987). Empowerment: an emerging mental health technology . Journal of Primary Prevention; 8 (1&2), 71-94

16.

Torre D.A. (1986). Empowerment: structured conceptualization and instrument development. Doctoral Dissertation, Cornell University, Michigan: UMI Dissertation Information Services

17.

Wallerstein N. (1992). Powerlessness, empowerment, and health: implications for health promotion programs. American Journal of Health Promotion; 6(3), 197-205

18.

Wallerstein N. and Bernstein E. (1988). Empowerment education: Freire's ideas adapted to health education. Health Education Quarterly; 15 (4), 379-394

19.

World Health Organisation (1986). Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. First International Health Promotion Conference. Ottawa, Canada: WHO

20.

Yeo M. ( 1993). Toward an ethic of empowerment for health promotion. Health Promotion International; 8 (3), 225-235

21.

Zimmerman M. (1986). Citizen participation, perceived control and psychological empowerment. Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois , Urbana-Champaign, Michigan: UMI Dissertation Information Services.

22.

Zimmerman M.A. and Rappaport J. (1988). Citizen participation, perceived control, and psychological empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology; 16 (5), 725-743

23.

Zimmerman M.A. , Israel B.A. , Sculz A. and Checkoway B. (1992). Further explorations in empowerment theory: an empirical analysis of psychological empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology; 20 (6), 707-727