Abstract
Objectives: Consistent with empowerment theory, parental empowerment acts as a mechanism of change in family-based interventions to support child health. Yet, there are no comprehensive, validated measures of parental health-related empowerment to test this important perspective. Informed by empowerment theory and in the context of a community-based obesity intervention, we developed a self-report measure of parental health-related empowerment and tested its preliminary validity with low-income parents. Methods: The Parental Empowerment through Awareness, Relationships, and Resources (PEARR) is a 21-item scale designed to measure three subdimensions of empowerment including resource empowerment, critical awareness, and relational empowerment. In the fall of 2017 or the fall of 2018, low-income parents (n = 770, 88% mothers) from 16 Head Start programs in Greater Boston completed the PEARR. The resulting data were randomly split into two equal samples with complete data. The factorial structure of the PEARR was tested in the first half of the sample using principal component analysis (PCA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and subsequently confirmed with the second half of the sample using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Internal consistency coefficients were calculated for the final subscales. Results: Results from the PCA and EFA analyses identified three component factors (eigenvalues = 8.25, 2.75, 2.12) with all items loading significantly onto the hypothesized subdimension (β > 0.59 and p < 0.01). The three-factor model was subsequently confirmed with the second half of the sample using CFA (β > 0.54 and p < 0.01). Fit indices met minimum criteria (Comparative Fit Index = 0.95, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.05 (0.05, 0.06), Standardized Root-Mean-Square Residual = 0.05). Subscales demonstrated strong internal consistency (α= 0.83–0.90). Conclusions: Results support initial validity of a brief survey measuring parental empowerment for child health among Head Start parents. The PEARR can be utilized to measure changes in parental empowerment through interventions targeting empowerment as a mechanism of change.
Highlights
Income inequalities in the United States (U.S.) are at the highest level in 50 years [1]
U.S adults and children from low-income backgrounds experience a greater burden of health disparities than their counterparts with higher socioeconomic status (SES) that persist across many health indicators [2,3]
This study focused on the items measuring parental empowerment including resource empowerment, critical awareness of socio-ecological influences of health, and relational empowerment constructs
Summary
Income inequalities in the United States (U.S.) are at the highest level in 50 years [1]. Within the multilevel umbrella of empowerment theory, Zimmerman defined psychological empowerment as consisting of individual-level emotional (i.e., intrapersonal), cognitive (i.e., interactional), and behavioral components (i.e., actions taken) [5,9,10,11]. As a facet of cognitive psychological empowerment, critical awareness is defined as an in-depth understanding of one’s life situation and its contributing factors [11,12]. This interactional empowerment requires individuals to identify causal agents in their environments, and to engage with them to accomplish a given goal [11,12]. Critical awareness implicates environmental mastery, which is defined as the ability to choose or change the surrounding context through action [11]
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