Empowerment Factors Research Articles

CONFIRMING THE PSOC THROUGH DISCOURSE: TOWARD A GROUNDED THEORY OF DISCURSIVE SENSE OF COMMUNITY (DSOC)

The psychological sense of community (PSOC) is a valued yet quantitatively underconfirmed construct that forms the foundation of our understanding of community. The current study aimed at and succeeded in confirming the factors, where traditional methods have failed. Using grounded theory as an alternate route to reaching this goal, the current study of 2,298 Facebook comments, surrounding anti‐lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer (LGBTQ) remarks made by the CEO of the Barilla pasta brand, revealed cogent communities of LGBTQ, allies, Christians, and opponents, which used each of McMillan and Chavis’ (1986) factors in their discourse, thus confirming PSOC. The discursive residue of PSOC indicated a new phenomenon, discursive sense of community (DSOC), which emerged from factors of expectations and empowerment. The DSOC appeared as a defensive strategy to mitigate minority stress. Testing the model against other datasets is recommended, to determine the extent to which this particular incident (i.e., a member of one group making an offensive comment to members of another group) shaped the qualitative findings.

New variables for detecting transport disadvantages. The role of social capital

This paper explores the potential role of social capital variables on the transport mode choice. Traditionally travel behavior model included social capital as empowerment factor (i.e. social capital as substitute of financial capital) or as social network influence on travel choice. Only recently constraints of social capital are considered as factors influencing travel behavior (Swanen et al, 2015, Di Ciommo & Martens, 2015).This article will show both aspects of empowerments and constraints of social capital in a dynamic way stressing two dynamic aspects of social capital: the building up social capital and use of social capital. Both aspects are related with the value of time: when you are doing something for others ( i.e. Voluntary actions, pick up all family members, etc) you are loosing your time, and your mode choice will be oriented to saving time, therefore a private mode will be chosen, while when you are using your social capital benefit (somebody else is helping you), you will easily choose the less flexible and more time consuming public transport. After defining social capital notion in both aspects of empowerments and constraints, a set of social capital variables is defined. Then two of these variables are tested through a smartphone short panel survey, where 100 individuals living or working in one surrounding southern area of Madrid have participated in entering their travel data for an entire working week. The estimated mixed-logit model that incorporated two “social capital variables: participation in voluntary activities and receiving help for various tasks (i.e. child care) show how people who have less social capital, but that are trying to build it up choose more private than public modes: building social capital stock has a cost in term of time that push people to use more flexible transport mode (i.e. private car), while people who have already a stock of social capital and can use it (i.e. helped people) receive time from others and are more relaxed in choosing a less flexible mode of transport such as public transport. Results confirm that when a new metro station is opened, the shift towards metro is higher in the case of people ”helped” and lower for those participating in some voluntary activities. From a policy point of view, it will be relevant to know if people leaving a specific area are more voluntary or helped oriented, for forecasting the future policies. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.2158

Empowering the elderly population through ICT-based activities

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to focus on elderly people who have adopted Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and participated in ICT-based activities, and explore variables associated with their individual and collective empowerment by using data collected by a questionnaire survey.Design/methodology/approach– A set of 14 questions was developed to measure older adults’ perceived psychological empowerment. A factor analysis was conducted to condense 14 individual variables into several large categories. Finally, a set of multiple regression analyses was employed to identify variables associated with the elderly’s individual and collective empowerment.Findings– Three factors, including a sense of meaning; competence/self-determination; and collective empowerment were extracted from the 14 questions. Multiple regression models revealed that elderly empowerment is not a matter of social skills, ICT skills, or complementary skills, but is more likely to result from their being interested in ICT and ICT-based activities. Learning activities in ICT-based activities and participation frequency were found to be predictors of both meaning and competence/self-determination dimensions.Research limitations/implications– The major finding of this study concerns the development of a measure that assesses three factors of empowerment in older adults, i.e., sense of meaning, competence/self-determination, and collective empowerment. This study represents an initial step in establishing the measure, and therefore, further work is needed to establish its psychometric properties, particularly external validity.Originality/value– This study is one of the first studies to focus on older people’s empowerment construct and its relation to ICT-based activities.

Factors in Patient Empowerment: A Survey of an Online Patient Research Network.

BackgroundProviders and healthcare organizations have begun recognizing the importance of patient empowerment as a driver of patient-centered care. Unfortunately, most studies have investigated empowerment with single diseases. Identifying factors of empowerment across conditions and populations would enable a greater understanding of this construct.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to understand empowerment in relation to health information-seeking, interactions with providers and peers, and healthcare access in chronic disease patients. This study also sought to identify key empowerment factors and their association with patient characteristics.MethodsParticipants were recruited through PatientsLikeMe, an online research platform where patients share their personal and medical history data. Patients completed an online survey that assessed self-reported health behavior (e.g. knowledge-seeking, experiences with healthcare providers, and peer interactions) and healthcare access. An exploratory factor analysis identified key empowerment domains. Domain level sum scores and sum of all domains (total score) were compared across patient characteristics and diseases.ResultsOverall, 3988 participants were included in the study, with the majority actively involved in their healthcare, but many cited difficulties with matching their treatment goals with those of their physician (34 %) and spending sufficient time with the physician (36 %). Factor analysis identified two domains—Positive Patient–Provider Interaction, and Knowledge and Personal Control—that explained >60 % of the overall variance in the observed variables. Mean total empowerment scores for patients with a primary complaint of Parkinson’s disease (61.8) and multiple sclerosis (60.3) were significantly greater than fibromyalgia (55.3) and chronic fatigue syndrome (54.8). Patients who were older, male, more educated, and insured also reported significantly greater levels of empowerment.ConclusionsThe two domains of empowerment identified in this study are consistent with previous studies, but the differences in empowerment levels across diseases suggest a need for further studies on disease-related attributes of empowerment. Future research should examine the pathways for empowerment, as well as the relationship between empowerment domains and clinical outcomes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40271-016-0171-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The current status and influencing factors of empowerment in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis

Objective To investigate the current status and influencing factors of empowerment in peritoneal dialysis(PD) patients. Methods A total of 141 PD patients were investigated with the Peritoneal Dialysis Empowerment Scale-Short Form(PDES-SF), the Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease Scale (SEMCDS), the Self-Management Scale for Peritoneal Dialysis Patients (SMSPD), the Self-Esteem Scale (SES) and the Sense of Coherence-13 (SOC-13). Results The PDES-SF has good reliability and validity: it was positively related with the SMSPD (r=0.416, P <0.001)and the SEMCDS (r=0.465, P<0.01); Cronbach α was 0.851.The mean score of empowerment was (4.21±0.54) points in PD patients. They performed poorly in making specific behavior change plans (3.95±0.94) points and evaluating self management (3.99±1.00) points. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the education level, the number of PD bags, SMSPD, SEMCDS and SOC-13 were influencing factors of empowerment in PD patients (t=-2.053-6.416,P<0.05), which could explain 43.5% of the variance. Conclusions For PD patients with different education levels and PD dosages, improving the SMSPD, SEMCDS and SOC-13 can increase the empowerment. Key words: Peritoneal dialysis; Current status of empowerment; Influencing factors

Pemberdayaan Masyarakat melalui Program Sutera Emas (Studi pada Inovasi Pelayanan Kesehatan di Puskesmas Kepanjen, Kabupaten Malang)

The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze the concept of health service innovation through sutera emas programs in the Kepanjen Clinic, Malang Regency; process of community empowerment, benefits of community empowerment; as well as supporting and inhibiting factors in community empowerment through sutera emas program. Methods research used a qualitative approach with descriptive research. Informants in this study included sutera emas cadre, village midwife, clinic personnel, Malang District Health Department officials, and local community. The results showed the concept of sutera emas program was undertaken by community as a key informant to the medics that was linked through via sms, then be processed through sutera emas software applications. The process of community empowerment through sutera emas programs performed on the awareness and behavior stages, it is related to the establishment of clean and healthy living and capacity stages through transfer of knowledge and science to the community that has been done by socialization and training to the sutera emas cadres. Benefits of community empowerment through sutera emas programs namely community as subject and object on the empowerment that served as key informants in its program implementation. Supporting factor in this community empowerment included cooperation and coordination among the stakeholders involved, commitment from local governments, as well as the enthusiasm society. Meanwhile, the inhibiting factor included low quality of human resources, lack of funds and lack of public awareness for healthy living.

JUMPA Vol.3 No.1 Feb 2016 ANALISIS LOADING FAKTOR SUMBER DAYA MANUSIA DAN PENGARUHNYA TERHADAP NILAI ORGANISASI

This study examined the factor analysis Empowerment of Human Resources and Organizational Values ​​influence on a company. The object of this study is the Company XYT as research objects. Model theory of empowerment (Empowerment) involves several factors: Desire, Trust, Confident, Credibility, Accountability and Communication which is then managed by three perspectives, namely: the perspective of performance management, training and development perspective (training and development). Empowerment is right will contribute to the optimization of the performance of organizations and companies. The approach used in this study is kuatintatif approach using regression methods. Data collection techniques used in this study using the Library Research yaitudengan way of studying books, reference, and journals relevant to the problems studied and Field Research using questionnaires and direct interviews with respondents. Results of the study revealed that the empowerment model have positive relationships and influences that factor is a factor confindent Human Resources Empowerment most dominant organizational values ​​while Credibility factor is the factor of Human Resource Empowerment less dominant on the value of the organization.

The facilitators and impediment factors of midwifery student's empowerment in pregnancy and delivery care: A qualitative study.

Background:The organizational environment and its existing context may deeply affect on empowerment of individuals. In educational institutions as well as other organizations, students are going to be powerful when opportunities for growth and achievement of power are provided for them in learning and educational environments. This study has been carried out to explain the facilitators and impediment factors of midwifery student's empowerment in pregnancy and delivery care.Materials and Methods:The current qualitative study has been conducted with participation of 15 midwifery senior students, 10 midwifery academic teachers, and 2 employed midwives in educational hospitals. The given data were collected through individual and group semi-structured interviews, and there were analyzed using directed content analysis method.Results:Three main categories of opportunity for acquisition of knowledge, opportunity for acquisition of clinical skills and opportunity for acquisition of clinical experiences formed structure of access to opportunity in the course of an explanation of facilitators and impediment factors for midwifery student's empowerment in pregnancy and delivery care.Conclusion:To prepare and train the skilled midwives for giving care services to mothers during pregnancy and on delivery and after this period, the academic teachers and clinical instructors should pay due attention to providing the needed opportunities to acquire the applied knowledge and proficiency in the required skills for clinical work and the necessary clinical experiences in these individuals during college period.

Impact of Social Media on Tribal Youth

Present paper focuses on Impact of social media on tribal youth through Digital India programme and impact on tribal culture and education with special reference to north east India. India has grown in its size of population, diversity and also positively in the field of information and communication technology. This is significant because information and social awareness have emerged as important factors of human empowerment. Social media has generated new dimension for tribal youth to learn and access to knowledge and skill development is completely new, and in some way tribal youth benefit more than adults because of their familiarity with new media and their openness to applying it as a learning reservoir. Since social media offers lot of interesting ways of learning anything, anywhere, anytime, the tribal youth learners are quite comfortable with the options available to them for learning as compared to the traditional educational transaction. But surprisingly, the reach of telecommunication and level of connectivity across the north east region is limited, especially in comparison to the rest of India. Thus the tribal clusters need dedicated focus on digital skill and literacy. Social media provides open line of communication builds new understandings and collaborations for tribal youth of north east India from very different cultures. Social media has become a huge platform for the tribal youth of north east India to present their talents to the rest of the world.

Workplace Conditions and Employer Relationships as Predictors of Economic Well‐Being: Female Domestic Workers in India

This article explores the intersectional role played by the various categories of workplace dynamics of female domestic workers in India. It models crucial aspects of a range of workplace conditions and employee‐employer relationship and empowerment factors, as predictors of the economic well‐being of domestic workers. The analysis is based on a questionnaire survey of 487 domestic workers in two cities of the Indian state of Karnataka, conducted July–December 2014. The prediction models reveal intersectionality: female domestic workers are disadvantaged by inequalities caused by two unique aspects of their work, namely, the feminization of this work as naturalized labor that women do because of their innate caring characteristics, and the employer‐employee relationship where the focus of work is the intimate private space of the employer. Empowerment factors, therefore, become additionally significant for their protection from exploitation and abuse. This paper highlights the conflicting role played by empowerment and concludes by discussing implications for legislation and policy.

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND FEMALE EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Access to Planned Parenthood methods and new medical technologies are improving the health of women and generating new debates on reproductive rights and women empowerment. This paper set out to appraise the link between reproductive rights and female education in Nigeria. It observed that, Assisted Reproductive Techniques (A.R.T.) have particularly contributed immensely to reproductive health and enhanced reproductive rights, which are pivotal to women development. However, education and knowledge remain a predetermining factor to the enjoyment of women’s reproductive rights as one of the necessary parameters in the evaluation of women’s health is female access to education. In Nigeria, female education is restricted by a myriad of cultural, religious and socioeconomic inhibitions which have significantly reduced awareness of reproductive choices and obscured reproductive rights. Of course, these are issues which have not only been relevant to the discourse on human rights but also to the discourse on national health and the realisation of MDGs. This paper established a link between increased female education, access to reproductive techniques and rise in the awareness of reproductive rights in Nigeria. The paper concluded that, female education is a key factor in women development and empowerment.

Factors affecting empowerment of female librarians, views of female managers of Tehran public libraries

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to study promoting and inhibiting factors in empowerment of female librarians in the opinion of female managers. It is necessary that library managers identify and monitor influential factors in empowering librarians, and attempt to eliminate factors with negative effects.Design/methodology/approach– This study is conducted in a phenomenological approach, which relies on in-depth interviews among nine female managers of top public library in Tehran. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews. Qualitative thematic analysis method was used for analysis of data.Findings– Interviews analysis revealed that job skills, participation and teamwork, role resolution, access to information, motivation, role modeling, recognition, and appreciation were among the effective factors in empowerment of female librarians. On the other hand, poor organizational communication system, negative attitudes toward staff, and instructional management style were among the inhibiting factors in empowerment of female librarians in the opinion of female public library managers.Originality/value– Results of the present study can help managers of public libraries to identify factors affecting empowerment of female librarians’. Also the findings can be used in managers’ planning and decision-making process.

The Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and newborns/children

The Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities of United Nations (CRPD 2006) is an international standard, but not enough know in Italy. The CRPD introduce a strong change of paradigma in the approach on persons with disabilities. Based on the respect of human rights, is innovative regard the Convention on the rights of the child (1989). Redefining the concept of disability, stress the importance of the social and relationship components. For the minors with disabilities means a new responsibility of the pediatrics on the social components that can determine factors of impoverishment or empowerment of capacities and competences. New concepts (related to new treatment) are stressed: from the empowerment to habilitation and to capability. The relationship with the family too from the curative attention, often totally transfer to specialism, to educational responsibility, guiding to an aware approach of the role of caregiver support, but no substitutive of the possible self-determination. The role of the physicians changes: no more search the recovery, often impossible, but the appropriate support to the empower and habilitate the form of fonctioning of the minor. The “noting about us without us” is essential for the evolution of minors with disabilities, put in value the human diversities, that are part of the human kind.

Empowering and trustful leadership: impact on nurses’ commitment

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of workplace empowerment and staff nurses’ perceptions of trustworthiness in their supervisor as determinators of organizational commitment.Design/methodology/approach– Data were collected from 189 nurses working at Portuguese public hospitals.Findings– Results indicate that an empowering work context was significantly predictive of nurses’ affective commitment and on the perceptions of trustworthiness of the supervisor. The employees who understand that they have access to factors of empowerment (formal power, informal power, resources, opportunity, support and information), and feel that they can influence the organization where they work, are in a better position to establish affective connections with the organization, as well as to perceive their supervisor as trustworthy.Research limitations/implications– One limitation relates to the generalization of the study’s findings outside the national context.Practical implications– Organizations must meet the conditions that contribute to increasing the organizational commitment of healthcare professionals when developing policies for human resources since the emotional bond with the organization seems to provide the strength to withstand moments of great difficulties.Originality/value– This research contributes to the understanding of how fostering empowering and trustful leadership will generate positive effects on job attitudes, even in a particularly difficult context of austerity.

Impact Of Psychological Empowerment On Employee’s Performance

The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of psychological empowerment on employee’s performance. A questionnaire used in order to collect data on the factors, which affect employee’s performance from employees of banks and university teachers of Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur of Punjab Pakistan. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire, consisting of 20 items, divided into four parts designed. Different cities of district Bahawalnagar in Pakistan selected on random sampling basis. A total 200 questionnaires circulated, and we receive 200 and the response rate was 100 %. The data collected and analyzed through descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression, ANOVA independent sample T test the study covered 200 participants of different cities of Bahawalnagar. We can say that that all the variables have moderate positive correlation according to correlation results. The descriptive statistics result shows that respondents are agree to our questions. And regression analysis which tells us how intensely an independent variable impact on depended variable shows that empowerment factors like meaningfulness, authority and self effectiveness has impact on employee’s performance. The major limitation of this study is that it covers employees of banks of few cities only. Another limitation of this study is that other variables of psychological empowerment have also impact on employee’s performance not included due to shortage of time.

Economic Empowerment of Rural Unskilled Women Workers: A Case Study in Agglomerating Centers of Rongjuli TD Block in Goalpara District of Assam, India

Productive and gainful employment of human resource is one of the major objectives of policy perspectives of any economy. Rural economy of India is characterized by a massive presence of unskilled as well as merely paid women workers who are engaged in household level activities that constitute a major part of the total workforce. Rural women workforce plays significant roles in the economy who participate in larger number of economic activity in agriculture and allied sector. The ever growing population and shrinkage of operational holding have resulted on searching for employment opportunities by the unskilled women workers. The changing socio-economic structure in the post-reform period has emerged an environment for economic empowerment even for unskilled women workers in rural areas. Presently a number of rural women who are unskilled seemed to participate in various informal employment opportunities such as self-employed as small trader in spot market or roadside hubs, casual worker in business establishment etc. mostly in the agglomerating centers of Goalpara district of Assam. Such phenomenon of growing participation of unskilled rural women workers needs a look in micro level to assess their empowerment status in particular and their significant role in the economy in general.Therefore, a study on the issue of economic empowerment of rural unskilled women workers in general and particular to the agglomerating areas of Rangjuli TD Block in Goalpara district of Assam, India has been chosen. The present paper seeks to achieve the objectives of assessing the economic status of rural women work participants, identify the prominent activities, and identify the bottlenecks and to search the facilitating factors of economic empowerment.

Perceived influence, decision-making and access to information in family services as factors of parental empowerment: a cross-sectional study of parents with young children.

Parental empowerment is known to increase parents' resources and to reduce stress, and therefore to improve family well-being. Professionals working in family services (child health clinics, school health care, day care, preschool and primary school) encounter families in various everyday settings and can significantly support parental empowerment. This study aimed (i) to identify associations between parental empowerment and demographic and family service characteristics (i.e. parents' participation and perceived influence, decision-making and access to information) and (ii) to identify predictors of maternal and paternal empowerment. Study design was cross-sectional. Participants were mothers (n=571) and fathers (n=384) of children aged 0-9 who were selected by stratified random sampling in 2009. Associations were analysed by t-test, one-way analysis of variance and multiple linear regression analysis. Sufficient perceived influence and joint decision-making by family and professionals on family service appointments emerged as significant variables of increased parental empowerment. Access to adequate information about municipal services was also associated with high empowerment. These family service characteristics were associated with parents' sense that they were able to manage in everyday life and had influence on specific service situations and family services in general. Mothers with a child aged under 3 or a child in home care or primary school, and fathers with a lower education feel less empowered in family services than other parents. Knowledge about the factors associated with parental empowerment can contribute to further reinforce parental empowerment, help identify parents who need special attention and contribute to the development of family services.

Identify and rank the factors in empowering employees by hierarchy (AHP)

Abstract. In development approaches to human resource management, the importance and position of human factors in organization have been clearly discussed. If there are approperiate situations for the growth of individual talents, organization`s asset (that is; human resource) will has better performance. One of the most effective factors in improvement of employee`s performance, is the growth of sense of empowerment among them. The present research reviews and identifies the factors in empowerment of employees of urban beautification organization of Urmia municipality in hierarchy method (AHP). For doing so, first literature and related concepts in empowerment were reviewed, and then the effective factors were studied. Then, a questionnaire was prepared to identify the factors in research population. In the next stage, the stability of questionnaire and the relationship between 19 factors with empowerment were reviewed through SPSS 15. In the follwing, AHP was used to rank the factors of empowerment. The results of factors ranking indicate that at the first 3 positions are training, capability, and skills of empoyees, respectively, and job significance, flexibility and information availability are placed in ranks 17-19. Managers should manage the employees` empowerment based on weight and rank of each factor.

Empowerment of patients in online discussions about medicine use.

BackgroundPatient empowerment is crucial in the successful self-management of people with chronic diseases. In this study, we investigated whether discussions about medicine use taking place on online message boards contribute to patient empowerment and could subsequently result in the more effective use of medicines. We discuss the extent to which patient empowerment processes occur in discussions on online message boards, focusing on patients with three disorders with different characteristics: diabetes, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Because information is an important factor in both patient empowerment and self-management, we also evaluate the quality of the information being exchanged.MethodsWe used a deductive thematic analysis method based on pre-existing categories. We gathered and analysed 5532 posts related to the conditions ADHD, ALS and diabetes from seven message boards (three for ADHD, three for diabetes, and one for ALS). We coded the posts for empowerment processes and the quality of the information exchanged.ResultsWe identified patient empowerment processes in posts related to all three disorders. There is some variation in the frequency of these processes, but they show a similar order in the results: patients used the online message boards to exchange information, share personal experiences and for empathy or support. The type of information shared in these processes could contribute to the patient’s self-efficacy when it comes to medicine use. The exchanged information was either correct or largely harmless. We also observed a tendency whereby participants correct previously posted incorrect information, and refer people to a healthcare professional following a request for medical advice, e.g. concerning the choice of medicines or dosage.ConclusionsOur findings show that patient empowerment processes occur in posts related to all three disorders. The type of information shared in these processes can contribute to the patient’s self-efficacy when it comes to medicine use. The tendency to refer people to a healthcare professional shows that patients still reserve an important role for healthcare professionals in the care process, despite the development towards more self-management.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12911-015-0146-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Measuring empowerment in an eastern context: Findings from Japan

With the empirical research on resident empowerment in its infancy, this study sought to add to the scant literature by testing the cross-cultural validity of the Resident Empowerment through Tourism Scale (RETS) within the town of Oizumi, Japan. Such a destination was chosen because it provided a culture vastly different from the original rural Virginia, U.S. sample across Hofstede's cultural dimensions. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) performed on the Oizumi sample (n = 456) demonstrated that the RETS and its factors of psychological, social, and political empowerment were construct valid and shared the same psychometric properties originally found in Boley and McGehee's study (2014). These findings from the Oizumi, Japan sample support the international applicability of the RETS and provide managers with a valid tool for tracking the effectiveness of their marketing and management efforts aimed at increasing resident empowerment.