Paper
Saturday, November 3, 2007
657
The Theory-Based Journey Guiding the Development of the Health Empowerment Intervention
Nelma B. Crawford Shearer, PhD, College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
Empowerment has been conceptualized as a framework for understanding the process and consequences of efforts to exert control and influence over the decisions that affect one’s life. Currently there is much discussion regarding the increasing numbers of older adults and the need to explore efforts consistent with empowerment to promote health and well-being among the aged. Despite the increased focus on empowerment as an approach to nurture well-being in older adults, only a few studies have used empowerment as a basis for intervention. The purpose of this paper is to describe the journey taken to build a theory-based health empowerment intervention. The presentation will outline the process guiding the movement from theoretical perspective to descriptive data and to the development of the intervention framework.
Findings from four studies, including three qualitative and one quantitative study provided the theoretical and empirical basis for the development of the health empowerment theory. Through an analysis of the findings from these studies, the health empowerment theoretical framework was revised and the health empowerment intervention conceptualized. Health empowerment, as an expression of a human health pattern of well-being, was revised and viewed as a relational process that emerges from the recognition of personal resources and social contextual resources. This process facilitates purposeful participation in the attainment of health goals and the promotion of individual well-being.
Guided by the theory of health empowerment, the health empowerment intervention was developed and designed to facilitate health empowerment in homebound older adults by fostering their awareness of and ability to access (1) personal resources, specifically, self-capacity, and (2) social contextual resources, specifically, social network and social service utilization including material resources with the goal of enhancing well-being in homebound older adults.
Funded in part by: Arizona State University Faculty-Grant-In-Aid FGRN030, and American Nurses Foundation Ada Sue Hinshaw ID #2002022.