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Empowerment
Kinds of Empowerment Terms modified by Empowerment Selected AbstractsCITIZEN EMPOWERMENT: BY BALLOT BOX OR MARKET?ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2004John Meadowcroft No abstract is available for this article. [source] Women's Empowerment Through Home,based Work: Evidence from IndiaDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2003Paula Kantor This article examines the extent to which home,based production in the garment sector of Ahmedabad, India, serves to empower its female participants, defining empowerment in terms of control over enterprise income and decision,making within the household. It places this question within the literatures on resource theory and bargaining models of the household, both of which posit that improved access to resources increases women's power in the household. This study highlights why access to resources may not lead so directly to improvements in women's position in the household in the Indian context. It then discusses why home,based work may be less empowering than sources of work outside of the home. The arguments about the empowerment potential of women's access to resources through home,based work are tested by examining, first, the determinants of control over the income generated by women in home,based garment production and, second, to what extent access to and control over income from this source translates into involvement in decisions which are atypically women's and yet important to their lives. The results provide a better understanding of the potential of home,based work to offer women in urban India a source of economic activity that also can translate into increased intra,household power. [source] Tackling the Down Side: Social Capital, Women's Empowerment and Micro-Finance in CameroonDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2001Linda Mayoux Micro-finance programmes are currently dominated by the ,financial self-sustainability paradigm' where women's participation in groups is promoted as a key means of increasing financial sustainability while at the same time assumed to automatically empower them. This article examines the experience of seven micro-finance programmes in Cameroon. The evidence indicates that micro-finance programmes which build social capital can indeed make a significant contribution to women's empowerment. However, serious questions need to be asked about what sorts of norms, networks and associations are to be promoted, in whose interests, and how they can best contribute to empowerment, particularly for the poorest women. Where the complexities of power relations and inequality are ignored, reliance on social capital as a mechanism for reducing programme costs may undermine programme aims not only of empowerment but also of financial sustainability and poverty targeting. [source] Correlates of Board Empowerment in Small CompaniesENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 5 2007Jonas Gabrielsson This study seeks to advance the understanding of board empowerment in small companies. Predictions based on agency and resource dependency theories were used to examine how contingency factors correlate with board empowerment, in this study conceptualized as a larger number of board members, a higher representation of outside directors, and separate CEO and board chair positions. Statistical analyses on a sample of 135 small companies gave ample support for the agency-theoretic prediction that board empowerment in small companies is a response to satisfy the demands from owners not directly involved in managing the company. Other factors influencing board empowerment were younger CEOs, high degree of exports, and past poor company performance. The influence of these contingency factors, however, was not as strong and extensive as the presence of outside owners. The article ends with a discussion of the findings and their implications for understanding boards and governance in small companies. [source] Empowerment in the self-management of diabetes: are we ready to test assumptions?EUROPEAN DIABETES NURSING, Issue 3 2007CPsychol, Csci Chartered Health Psychologist, KG Asimakopoulou BSc Abstract This paper describes the origins and definitions of the concept of diabetes empowerment. It summarises why ,compliance' was considered to be a problematic term in diabetes and why it was replaced by ,self-management' which, in turn, paved the way for introducing the concept of empowerment. Although empowerment is a popular and helpful concept and process, it comes with several important underlying assumptions about the health care professional (HCP),patient encounter, patient understanding, memory and willingness to become empowered, and finally the HCP's view on the validity of the concept. All these assumptions, it is argued, need further testing before the concept and process are fully and wholly embraced in diabetes care across Europe. Copyright © 2007 FEND [source] An Experimental Study of an Empowerment-Based Intervention for African American Head Start FathersFAMILY RELATIONS, Issue 3 2002Jay Fagan This study examined the effects of an empowerment intervention, Men as Teachers, on African American Head Start fathers. Fathers were randomly assigned to the empowerment program or to a control group in which participants viewed a five-part videotape series on parenting. The results revealed a significant improvement in fathers' attitudes about their ability to teach their preschool-age children for the experimental group only. There was no significant improvement in these fathers' attitudes about racial oppression socialization practices. Resident fathers in the experimental group showed significant gains in self-esteem and parenting satisfaction. [source] Fiscal Decentralisation and Empowerment: Evolving Concepts and Alternative Measures,FISCAL STUDIES, Issue 4 2008Jameson Boex H11; H70; H72 Abstract Decentralisation reforms are among the most common and significant public sector reforms, particularly in developing and transitional countries around the world. Despite the importance of the topic to policy practitioners and academic researchers alike and the extensive empirical research on the topic, there is consensus in the literature that the measures of decentralisation that are currently used are unsatisfactory. In response, we propose an alternative measure of fiscal decentralisation based on the notion that decentralisation is more than simply the inverse of centralisation. Following Bahl (2005), we consider fiscal decentralisation as ,the empowerment of people by the [fiscal] empowerment of their local governments'. Accordingly, we develop a measure of fiscal empowerment that allows us to quantify fiscal decentralisation as the gain in empowerment due to devolution and we analyse the proposed measures of empowerment and decentralisation for a cross-section of developing, transitional and industrialised countries. [source] Black economic empowerment, legitimacy and the value added statement: evidence from post-apartheid South AfricaACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 1 2009Steven F. Cahan M41 Abstract We examine why companies in South Africa voluntarily provide a value added statement (VAS). The VAS can be used by management to communicate with employees and thereby establish a record of legitimacy. Since we want to establish if the VAS is used to establish symbolic or substantive legitimacy, we examine whether production of a VAS is associated with actual performance in labour-related areas. To measure labour-related performance, we use an independent Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) rating. We find that BEE performance is significantly and positively related to the voluntary publication of a VAS. Our results suggest that BEE performance and disclosure of a VAS are two elements of a strategy used by South African companies to establish their substantive legitimacy with labour. [source] Unequal Pieces of a Shrinking Pie: The Struggle between African Americans and Latinos over Education, Employment, and Empowerment in Compton, CaliforniaHISTORY OF EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2009Emily E. Straus First page of article [source] Legal Reform, Women's Empowerment and Social Change: The Case of EgyptIDS BULLETIN, Issue 2 2010Mulki Al-Sharmani In the last decade, new family laws have been passed in Egypt, with important ramifications for women. In this article, I argue that two issues diminish the transformative role that these reforms could play in strengthening Egyptian women's rights and achieving gender justice. First, despite the recently passed laws, the model of marriage that the state continues to uphold through its codes and courts is premised on gendered roles and rights for husbands and wives. This model, however, contradicts the realities of Egyptian marriages. Second, the incongruence between the agendas of different reform actors, their piecemeal approach, and their top-down and non-participatory strategies have impacted the reform outcomes in mixed ways. This has meant that the multidimensionality and the social-embeddedness of the process of law-making have not been adequately taken into account in the efforts undertaken by reform actors, thereby undermining the effectiveness and significance of these endeavours. [source] Negotiating Islam: Conservatism, Splintered Authority and Empowerment in Urban BangladeshIDS BULLETIN, Issue 2 2010Samia Huq Bangladesh has recently been seeing a rise in religiosity which has been treated as problematic, anti-secular and anti-progressive within the public sphere. Various writers describe this trend as having a disempowering effect on women and negating their self-expression. However, underlying these views is the assumption that the assertion of women's agency is not enough if it does not confront existing structures of relations. This article asks whether it is possible that in seeking changes in certain aspects of one's life, existing gender relations are not necessarily transformed, but indirectly challenged and reconfigured? The conclusion suggests that rather than a polarisation of the secular and religious ways of living most people are in fact in between, negotiating between the two camps, and borrowing ideas and ways from both. [source] Unmarried in Palestine: Embodiment and (dis)Empowerment in the Lives of Single Palestinian WomenIDS BULLETIN, Issue 2 2010Penny Johnson There are rising numbers of single women across the Arab world. While this is usually connected with delayed marriage, Palestine shows a unique pattern of early but not universal marriage. This article looks beneath the statistics to investigate the stories behind this trend. How do young unmarried women negotiate boundaries and understand and enact choice in the context of a society experiencing prolonged insecure and warlike conditions, political crisis and social fragmentation and where the high number of unmarried women can be an increasing locus of moral panic? In conducting focus groups with two generations of women, my research looks at the prevailing importance of education, civil society and security in negotiating space within women's lives and uncovers a long tradition of unmarried women leading full and significant lives which needs to be recovered from the past. [source] Beyond the Mantra of Empowerment: Time to Return to Poverty, Violence and StruggleIDS BULLETIN, Issue 6 2008Uma Chakravarti [source] Empowerment and globalisation in a Nordic social work education contextINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 3 2008Ing-Marie Johansson The Nordic countries have been experiencing paradigm shifts from a focus on problems, pathology and deficits to more strengths-based, capacity-building and inclusive approaches, especially in the field of child welfare. This article describes joint Nordic (Nordplus) Master level courses that have been introduced to promote a more inclusive and empowering way of working with children and families. The overall theme of the Nordplus project is democratisation of child welfare work. The project includes three separate courses: (i) Empowerment and family decision making in child welfare; (ii) Strengths and solution oriented child welfare work; (iii) Children, youth and participation. The project brought together masters students from the Nordic countries and professional academics from the Nordic countries, South Africa and Australia. This article describes and problematises the learning process and the outcomes of the project. An important aim of the project was to interrogate the relationship between the global and the local. [source] Empowerment in social work: an individual vs. a relational perspectiveINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 2007Dag Leonardsen Social workers with only an individualistic understanding of empowerment will easily end up as moralising agents rather than as facilitators for their clients. It is in the complex interaction between a given socio-material situation and the individual capacity to interpret and act that one finds the key to an empowerment worthy of its name. This presupposes two things: that social workers have as a part of their education theoretical knowledge about organisational structures, and that they themselves have been empowered in ways that give them practical competence to act in relation to situations. They need the competence to identify the complexities of interests and power relations in society. The implication of such a recogni-tion should be clear for the education of social workers: the ideology of empowerment has to be contextualised. To discuss this topic the author makes a distinction between an individua-listic and a relational perspective and between social problems conceived of as a ,lack of money' vs. a ,lack of meaning'. [source] The Creation and Empowerment of the European Parliament*JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 2 2003Berthold Rittberger Up until now we have lacked a systematic, theoretically guided explanation of why the European Union, as the only system of international governance, contains a powerful representative institution, the European Parliament, and why it has been successively empowered by national governments over the past half century. It is argued that national governments' decisions to transfer sovereignty to a new supranational level of governance triggers an imbalance between procedural and consequentialist legitimacy which political elites are fully aware of. To repair this imbalance, proposals to empower the European Parliament play a prominent though not exclusive role. Three landmark events are analysed to assess the plausibility of the advanced theory: the creation of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community, the acquisition of budgetary powers (Treaty of Luxembourg, 1970) and of legislative powers through the Single European Act (1986). [source] Black Economic Empowerment in the South African Wine IndustryJOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 4 2005GAVIN WILLIAMS KWV has been at the centre of the South African Wine Industry since 1918. In July 2004, KWV agreed that a broadly based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) consortium would acquire 25.1 per cent of the shares of the KWV Group. The South African Wine Industry Trust, whose trustees are nominated by the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs and by KWV, facilitated the deal. The agreement has features specific to the wine industry; it is also a milestone and a precedent for black economic empowerment in agriculture. This paper situates the politics of black economic empowerment in the context of the legacies inherited by the wine industry. It examines the complex political processes by which the participants mobilized funds and negotiated decisions to reconcile their objectives and realize their goals. By examining carefully the details of the sequences of events, the paper sheds light on the peculiar features of this case and raises questions about the nature, implications and significance of black economic empowerment in South Africa. [source] Empowerment to participate: a case study of participation by indian sex workers in HIV preventionJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2006Flora Cornish Abstract The popularity of ,participation' and ,empowerment' in international development discourse is not matched by sophisticated conceptualisation of these terms. Critics have argued that their vagueness allows ,participation' and ,empowerment' to be used indiscriminately to describe interventions which vary from tokenism to genuine devolving of power to the community. This paper suggests that conceptualising empowerment and participation simply in terms of a scale of ,more or less' participation or ,more or less' empowerment does not capture the qualitatively different forms of empowerment that are necessary for different activities. Instead, the paper conceptualises participation in terms of concrete domains of action in which people may be empowered to take part. An ethnographic case study of a participatory HIV prevention project run by sex workers in Kolkata illustrates the argument. Four domains of activity in which sex workers may participate are distinguished: (1) participating in accessing project services; (2) participating in providing project services; (3) participating in shaping project workers' activity; (4) participating in defining project goals. To be empowered to participate in each domain depends upon a different set of resources. Asking the question ,empowerment to do what?' of health promotion projects is proposed as a way of facilitating appropriate project design. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Empowerment and peer support: structure and process of self-help in a consumer-run center for individuals with mental illness,JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Russell K. Schutt Personal empowerment is a guiding philosophy of many mental health service programs, but there has been little empirical research on the empowerment process in these programs. The authors examine social processes and consumer orientations within a self-help drop-in center for individuals with psychiatric disabilities, using intensive interviews and focus groups. They investigate motives for consumer involvement, bases for program retention, and processes of participant change. Motives for involvement in the center were primarily instrumental, whereas the bases of retention were more often maintaining social support and developing self-esteem. Participants valued the center's nonstigmatizing environment and its supportive consumer staff. Some used the opportunity to become a staff member to move into a more normalized social role; all seemed to derive benefits from helping peers. There were indications of some staff members adopting a more authoritarian posture, but participants repeatedly lauded most staff for their supportive orientation. The authors conclude that the "helper/therapy" process was a key to successful empowerment. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Empowerment in parents of school-aged children with and without developmental disabilitiesJOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 12 2005J. S. Nachshen Abstract Background Despite the widespread use of the term ,empowerment' in clinical literature to describe both a desirable process and the outcome of service delivery, the term remains more of a theoretical than practical construct. This study examined the factors that contribute to empowerment in parents of school-aged children with and without developmental disabilities (DD) using the Double ABCX model of family adaptation contrasted with the linear ACBX model. Methods Parents of children with (n = 100, 97% mothers) and without (n = 100, 98% mothers) DD completed questionnaires relating to child behaviour problems, parent stress and well-being, and formal and informal support. Structural equation modelling was used Results Parents of children with DD reported more child behaviour problems, more stress, less well-being and more social support than parents of children without DD. Structural equation modelling supported the ACBX model for both groups. A linear relationship was found in which parent well-being and resources mediated the relationship between the stressor (child behaviour problems) and the outcome (empowerment). Conclusions The results of the current study support Hastings and Taunt's assertion in 2002, in that empowerment was adequately explained using a traditional model of family functioning. The significant prediction offered by the parent's resources points to the need to deliver services in a manner that is more family-centred. In the education system, this means providing parents with clear messages regarding the schools goals, clarifying the parent's rights and responsibilities, including the parent in planning and decision making, respecting their knowledge as caregivers and supporting their hopes for their child. [source] Postcolonial Transitions in Africa: Decolonization in West Africa and Present Day South AfricaJOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 5 2010Stephanie Decker abstract Black Economic Empowerment is a highly debated issue in contemporary South Africa. Yet few South Africans realize that they are following a postcolonial trajectory already experienced by other countries. This paper presents a case study of British firms during decolonization in Ghana and Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s, which saw a parallel development in business and society to that which occurred in South Africa in the 1990s and 2000s. Despite fundamental differences between these states, all have had to empower a majority of black citizens who had previously suffered discrimination on the basis of race. The paper employs concepts from social capital theory to show that the process of postcolonial transition in African economies has been more politically and socially disruptive than empowerment in Western countries. Historical research contributes to our understanding of the nature of institutional shocks in emerging economies. [source] The mediating effect of burnout on the relationship between structural empowerment and organizational citizenship behavioursJOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010STEPHANIE GILBERT MSc gilbert s., laschinger h.k.s. &leiter m (2010) Journal of Nursing Management18, 339,348 The mediating effect of burnout on the relationship between structural empowerment and organizational citizenship behaviours Aim, We used Kanter's (1977) structural empowerment theory to examine the influence of structural empowerment and emotional exhaustion on healthcare professionals' use of organizational citizenship behaviours directed at the organization (OCBO) and peers (OCBI). Background, Organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB) are discretionary behaviours that are not rewarded directly by the organization but have been linked to positive outcomes, such as increased job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions. Promoting OCB can help employees and organizations flourish despite current challenges in the healthcare system. Structural empowerment may influence the frequency and type of OCB by reducing burnout. Method, We conducted multiple mediated regression analyses to test two hypothesized models about relationships between empowerment, emotional exhaustion and two types of OCB (OCBI and OCBO) in a sample of 897 healthcare professionals in five Canadian hospitals. Results, Emotional exhaustion was found to be a significant mediator of the relationship between empowerment and OCBO. The predicted mediation of the empowerment/OCBI relationship by emotional exhaustion was not supported. Conclusions, Exhaustion was an important mediator of empowering working conditions and OCBO, but was not significantly related to OCBI. Empowerment was significantly related to both OCBO and OCBI. Implications for nursing management, Promoting empowerment among healthcare workers may decrease burnout and promote OCB. Specific managerial strategies are discussed in the present study. [source] Empowerment, engagement and perceived effectiveness in nursing work environments: does experience matter?JOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2009HEATHER K. SPENCE LASCHINGER RN Aims, We examined the impact of empowering work conditions on nurses' work engagement and effectiveness, and compared differences among these relationships in new graduates and experienced nurses. Background, As many nurses near retirement, every effort is needed to retain nurses and to ensure that work environments are attractive to new nurses. Experience in the profession and generational differences may affect how important work factors interact to affect work behaviours. Methods, We conducted a secondary analysis of survey data from two studies and compared the pattern of relationships among study variables in two groups: 185 nurses 2 years post-graduation and 294 nurses with more than 2 years of experience. Results, A multi-group SEM analysis indicated a good fit of the hypothesized model. Work engagement significantly mediated the empowerment/effectiveness relationship in both groups, although the impact of engagement on work effectiveness was significantly stronger for experienced nurses. Conclusions, Engagement is an important mechanism by which empowerment affects nurses feelings of effectiveness but less important to new graduates' feelings of work effectiveness than empowerment. Implications for nursing management, Managers must be aware of the role of empowerment in promoting work engagement and effectiveness and differential effects on new graduates and more seasoned nurses. [source] Shared governance as vertical alignment of nursing group power and nurse practice council effectivenessJOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2009RICHARD J. BOGUE PhD Aim(s), This study validates an instrument for measuring the effectiveness of nursing practice councils and offers a framework for measuring and understanding shared governance. Background, Empowerment results from the vertical alignment of nursing group power with nursing unit power practices. The field lacks an instrument for measuring nurses' practice of power. Method(s), Two studies (n1 = 119; n2 = 248) are used to validate the Nursing Practice Council effectiveness scale (NPCes). Results, NPCes is a valid and reliable index of nursing practice council effectiveness. This study suggests specific diagnostic tools to understand two levels for actualized power, one at the group or departmental level and one at the unit level. Conclusion(s), NPCes and the Sieloff-King Assessment of Group Power within Organizations (SKAGPO) can be used together to improve examination of shared governance. Examining group power as well as unit-level practices may give a more complete view of barriers to nurse empowerment. Implications for nursing management, Changing nursing power and practices in an organization may be made more effective by engaging and monitoring vertical alignment of strategies fostering power competencies among nurse leaders and simultaneously supporting nursing practice councils as a means of exercising nurse authority at the unit level. [source] Empowerment of Nursing as a Socially Significant Profession in VietnamJOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, Issue 3 2000Patricia S. Jones Purpose: To describe nursing education and practice in Vietnam, and strategies that support empowerment of nursing as a socially significant profession for that country. Design: The Jones-Meleis health empowerment model was used as a framework to examine barriers and identify strategies that support empowerment. Methods: Fieldwork, interviews, and participation-observation in collaborative partnerships with the Ministry of Health, the national nurses association, and schools of nursing in Vietnam. Findings: Nurses in Vietnam are eagerly poised to make significant and essential contributions to the well-being of society. Conclusions: Baccalaureate and master's degree nursing curricula taught by nurses are necessary for professionalization of nursing practice in Vietnam. [source] Improving the Mental Health, Healthy Lifestyle Choices, and Physical Health of Hispanic Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Pilot StudyJOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 12 2009Bernadette M. Melnyk PhD, CPNP/NPP, FAAN ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Obesity and mental health disorders are 2 major public health problems in American adolescents, with prevalence even higher in Hispanic teens. Despite the rapidly increasing incidence and adverse health outcomes associated with overweight and mental health problems, very few intervention studies have been conducted with adolescents to improve both their healthy lifestyles and mental health outcomes. Even fewer studies have been conducted with Hispanic youth. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the preliminary efficacy of the COPE (Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment) Healthy Lifestyles TEEN (Thinking, Emotions, Exercise, and Nutrition) program, a manualized educational and cognitive behavioral skills-building program, on Hispanic adolescents' healthy lifestyle choices as well as mental and physical health outcomes. METHODS: A cluster randomized controlled pilot study was conducted with 19 Hispanic adolescents enrolled in 2 health classes in a southwestern high school. One class received COPE and the other received an attention control program. RESULTS: Adolescents in the COPE program increased their healthy lifestyle choices and reported a decrease in depressive and anxiety symptoms from baseline to postintervention follow-up. A subset of 7 overweight adolescents in the COPE program had a decrease in triglycerides and an increase in high-density lipoproteins. In addition, these overweight adolescents reported increases in healthy lifestyle beliefs and nutrition knowledge along with a decrease in depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: The COPE TEEN program is a promising school-based strategy for improving both physical and mental health outcomes in adolescents. [source] Comparing Innovation Capability of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Examining the Effects of Organizational Culture and EmpowermentJOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010Nigar Demircan Çakar This study analyzes the impact of organizational culture and empowerment on innovation capability, and examines the peculiarities of these effects. The study's hypotheses are tested by applying both individual and firm-level analyses to survey data collected from 743 employees from 93 small and medium-sized firms located in Turkey. For medium-sized enterprises on both the individual and firm level of analysis, results suggest that collectivism and uncertainty avoidance are positively associated with empowerment, whereas power distance is negatively related to empowerment. Assertiveness focus has no relations with empowerment and innovation capability, yet among cultural dimensions, only uncertainty avoidance is related to innovation capability. For small-sized enterprises, findings suggest that both power distance and uncertainty avoidance are linked to both empowerment and innovation capability on the individual level, whereas two new paths between collectivism and innovation capability and between assertiveness focus and empowerment are found on the firm level. Also, empowerment is found to be positively related to innovation capability for both small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on both the individual and firm level. In terms of managerial practice, our study helps clarify the key role played by cultural dimensions in the process of shaping an empowering and innovative work environment. Findings also reveal that managers should focus on participative managerial practices (e.g., empowerment) to promote innovation capability of SMEs. [source] The Government of Health Care and the Politics of Patient Empowerment: New Labour and the NHS Reform Agenda in EnglandLAW & POLICY, Issue 3 2010KENNETH VEITCH This article considers the issue of patient empowerment in the context of New Labour's proposed reforms to the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Through an exploration of some of the key measures in the government's white paper High Quality Care for All, the article argues for a conceptualization of patient empowerment as a political technique of governing. Patient empowerment, it is contended, can no longer be understood solely as a quantitative phenomenon to be balanced within the doctor-patient relationship. Rather, its deployment by the government as a way of governing health and health care more broadly demands that we consider what political functions,including, importantly, it is argued here, managing the problem of the increasing cost of illness and health care,patient empowerment may be involved in performing. In order to assist in this enquiry, the article draws on some of Michel Foucault's work on the art of governing. It is suggested that his understanding of the neoliberal mode of governing best captures the proposed changes to the NHS and the role patient empowerment plays in their implementation. [source] New Means for Political Empowerment in the Asian Pacific American CommunityNATIONAL CIVIC REVIEW, Issue 4 2002Steven Hill First page of article [source] Workplace performance,PLUS: Empowerment and voice through professional development and democratic processes in health care trainingPERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2009Kathleen P. King Based on the theory of transformative learning (Mezirow, 1980) and critical pedagogy (Freire, 1980), mixed-methods research (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998) of a hospital workers' union and training organization addressed the impact of a custom-designed, group-focused, results-driven professional development model with 130 participants. Employees across many job titles participated. Findings reveal substantial content learning, along with the development of empowerment and voice. The purpose of the research was to determine the ways and the extent that worker voice, satisfaction, attitude, communication, and problem solving improved as workers and managers put into practice knowledge and skills learned through the training (Winchester, 2003). The scope of results includes efficiency and skill improvements and qualitative changes intersecting professional and personal realms. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||