community empowerment theory
DESCRIPTION
community empowerment theoryTRANSCRIPT
APPLICATIONPractice
-in the gov’t health sector’s program
on the eradication of DHF where
Sanitary Inspectors are the Health
Professionals and BHWs are the lay
persons.
Research
-Community Based Perinatal Care
for Disadvantaged Adolescents:
Evaluation of the Resource Mothers
Program
Education
-enhancing the awareness of
students to theory in practice (RLE),
will give direction to their care and
advance their understanding in
theory-based practice
REFERENCESFitzpatrick, J. and Wallace, M.. Encyclopedia of Nursing Research.
2006. Springer Publishing, New York.
Hildebrandt, E. An Example from Africa. 1996. IMAGE: Journal of Nursing Scholarship.
Hildebrandt, E. and Persily, C.A. . The Community Empowerment Theory. 2008. Springer Publishing, New York.
Liehr, P. and Smith M.. Middle-Range Theories in Nursing, Second Edition. 2008. Springer Publishing. New York
E-mail responses from Eugenie Hildebrandt ([email protected]) and Cynthia Armstrong Persily ([email protected])
A Middle Range Theory
“Community Empowerment is the involvement of lay workers
in the promotion of reciprocal health”
Eugenie Hildebrandt, PhD, RN, APRN-BCCynthia Armstrong Persily, PhD, RN, FAAN
A Report by: Eunice Aimee R. Laxamana
THE COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT
THEORY
The Theory
Basis – “improving the health of people rests in programs
that enable active participation of the members of the
community to take responsibility for their own health.
Purpose – “provide a framework for interventions at
individual and community levels”
Concepts
Community Involvement – linking of people to identify
needs, resources, and barriers
Lay Workers – trained persons who share backgrounds with
persons in the community.
Reciprocal Health – actualization of inherent and acquired
human potential.
Propositions
Health care professionals facilitate involvement when
they share information and control with the community
residents
Lay workers’ knowledge of community resources and
values and first hand life experiences enable them to
reach out to families not easily accessible to outsiders
The Community Empowerment TheoryThe Origin of the Theory
Reciprocal Health emerges when professionals and
community residents work together, thereby
magnifying the potential for participants to manage
their own health.
Evaluation
Clarity – semantically &structurally clear
Simplicity – simple with three concepts
Generality – applies to a broad array of health care
situations
Empirical Precision – well supported by empirical
evidence
Accessibility – concepts can be empirically tested though
there is no standardized outcome evaluation
Importance – can be used to hasten achievement of MDGs
Strengths - user-friendly, straightforward, optimistic
influence on the community people involved, pro-active
participation
Limitations – broadness of “empowerment”, special
training needed, the line between health care and the
community members is difficult to draw, the motivation
of the community
Community Empowerment is fostered by the interaction or involvement of community lay
health workers, and community people, in the promotion of health in the community.
Dr. Eugenie Hildebrandt, RN, PhD, APRN-BC
Associate Professor, EmeritaUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
BS – George Mason University, West VirginiaMSN – University of Wisconsin, Madison, WisconsinPhD – University of
Worked with Black Africans in South Africa for 3 Years during the Apartheid Era and developed a conceptual model based on the idea of WHO CIH to use as a guide to empower the community.
Dr. Cynthia Persily, RN, PhD, FAAN
Chief Executive Officer, Highlands Hospital Association, Inc., Charleston, West Virginia
BSN –University of Stroudsburg, PennsylvaniaMSN – University of PennsylvaniaPhD – University of Worked in Pennsylvania as a nurse specialist in
transitional care of mothers and hypothesized that the use of lay people may be an effective way of providing low-cost yet equally effective care. She tested this hypothesis when she moved to West Virginia with the help of Dr. Hildebrandt’s Conceptual Model.