Empowerment

About: Empowerment is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 42112 publications have been published within this topic receiving 752953 citations.

Family–Professional Partnerships and Parenting Competence, Confidence, and Enjoyment

Abstract: A growing body of research demonstrates that the nature of the relationship between parents and professionals and parents' judgements of their feelings of empowerment are closely linked. This article focuses on one component of this relationship—partnerships—and reports on the association between parent–professional partnership and both parent empowerment and parenting capabilities in a sample of parents with a child with a disability or developmental delay. The results of this study extend our knowledge about the nature of help‐giving that is likely to produce desirable outcomes for families.

Engaging youth in participatory research and evaluation.

Abstract: Although participatory research has been applied by a wide range of disciplines, the engagement of youth as partners in research and evaluation efforts is relatively new The positive youth development movement has influenced scholars and practitioners to include youth as partners in the design and implementation of research involving issues that affect their lives Engaging youth in research and evaluation not only generates useful knowledge for communities and individuals but also provides opportunities for the development and empowerment of youth participants, leading to benefits for young people, organizations, the broader community, and the research process However, there has been little systematic study to establish an evidence base for these effects This article describes four projects that illustrate active youth participation in research These examples demonstrate opportunities for positive youth development, create a context for intergenerational partnerships, and generate research findings to inform future interventions and organizational improvements, including community mobilization

The Process of Empowerment: Implications for Theory and Practice

Abstract: This article describes a research study completed on the process of empowerment. Conducted with 55 men and women who had experienced extensive powerlessness in their lives, qualitative interviews and focus groups were designed to understand participants' lived experiences as they struggled toward increased control in their lives. Several themes were identified, including elements which provided an impetus for empowerment and the importance of support from people. As the empowerment process unfolded, access to valued resources and participation in community life reduced isolation and contributed to the competence and confidence of participants. Several implications for the concept of empowerment are identified such as self-efficacy and personal control; and principles for community practice are outlined. This study confirms the importance of understanding empowerment from an ecological perspective.

Choice and Empowerment for Battered Women Who Stay: Toward a Constructivist Model

Abstract: This article examines the individual and social construction of empowerment for battered women who choose to stay with their abusers through a critical examination of the images of battered women who stay, constructed in the professional literature on various ecological levels, and a proposal of a constructivist model for empowering battered women who choose to stay that balances between their needs and rights. The model includes dimensions of physical and emotional distance as well as a time dimension. Key themes related to battered women's options along these dimensions are presented.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems as a technology of power: empowerment or panoptic control?

Abstract: This paper explores ERP as an ambivalent technology of power. On the one hand, it may tighten management control by bringing a new level of panoptic visibility to organizational activities; on the other hand, the embedded business model within the ERP may drive empowerment of employees and greater control relaxation through the configuration of new process design. How will the implementation of an ERP system affect organizational control? Our This research seeks to understand how the different forces play out in the context of ERP implementation, and to explore the implications for traditional power distribution in organizations.This paper adopts a mixed qualitative-quantitative methodology in an intensive case study of a restructured hospital in Singapore. A survey of 260 users was administered, supplemented by approximately 27 hours of individual interviews with 23 people. Results reveal that although ERP as a technology can facilitate both empowerment and panoptic control, management has consciously resisted empowerment by working to re-institute the "loss of power" driven by power lost through the ERP implementation. On the other hand, the new panoptic visibility, though partially unintended, appears to have evolved naturally and was readily learnted and applied in the organization. This study is significant in exposing the likelihood of ERP implementation as a technology to that perpetuates management power. At least in the context of the hospital studied, it is yet another means of enlarging the management authority for "total control."