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Personal Empowerment (personal + empowerment)
Selected AbstractsImproving 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] 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] Expectation of empowerment as a determinant of citizen participation in waste management planning1,2JAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2009HIROE MAEDA Abstract:, The study investigated the determinants of citizen participation in the development of a waste management plan. It was hypothesized that people would decide whether or not to participate in the planning based on the expectation of empowerment to be gained by their participation, not on the general evaluation of citizen participation. Four hundred and twenty-four volunteers responded to a self-report mailed survey conducted in August 2001 in Nisshin City. Nisshin City was selected as a city where the municipal government was starting to develop a basic plan for waste reduction and recycling. Major findings from the survey were: (a) the direct social benefits (i.e., making a better plan by citizen participation) were the main determinant of the general evaluation of citizen participation; and (b) expectation of personal empowerment (i.e., sense of self-efficacy and solidarity) was the main determinant of behavioral intention to citizen participation. [source] Political ideology, helping mechanisms and empowerment of mental health self-help/mutual aid groupsJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2002Eleni Hatzidimitriadou Abstract Self-help/mutual aid groups share common attributes such as they are peer-led, address a common problem or condition, have a voluntary character and little or no connection with professionals. However, these groups may vary according to their political ideology and focus on personal or/and societal change. This study examines the role of political ideology of self-help/mutual aid groups and differences in psychosocial characteristics of group members. Fourteen mental health self-help/mutual aid groups in England were studied. On the basis of stated aims and principles and following semi-structured interviews with group leaders (facilitators/chairpersons), these were classified according to Emerick's typology as conservative (eight groups), combined (three groups), and radical (three groups). Group members (n,=,67) completed questionnaires to assess personal empowerment, mental wellbeing, social networks and support, group identification and helping processes in the groups. Findings suggested that all self-help group members experienced a large number of naturally occurring helping process and felt empowered whilst they shared limited social networks and support and marginal mental wellbeing. Different ideological types of self-help groups may be related to specific helping processes and particular aspects of personal empowerment. Specifically, members of conservative and combined groups reported more expressive group processes like sharing of feelings and self-disclosure, while radical group members reported more optimism/control over their lives. Furthermore, group identification was associated with specific helping processes and aspects of personal empowerment in the three group categories. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||