APPLICATIONPractice

-in the gov’t health sector’s program

on the eradication of DHF where

Sanitary Inspectors are the Health

Professionals and BHWs are the lay

persons.

Research

-Community Based Perinatal Care

for Disadvantaged Adolescents:

Evaluation of the Resource Mothers

Program

Education

-enhancing the awareness of

students to theory in practice (RLE),

will give direction to their care and

advance their understanding in

theory-based practice

REFERENCESFitzpatrick, J. and Wallace, M.. Encyclopedia of Nursing Research.

2006. Springer Publishing, New York.

Hildebrandt, E. An Example from Africa. 1996. IMAGE: Journal of Nursing Scholarship.

Hildebrandt, E. and Persily, C.A. . The Community Empowerment Theory. 2008. Springer Publishing, New York.

Liehr, P. and Smith M.. Middle-Range Theories in Nursing, Second Edition. 2008. Springer Publishing. New York

E-mail responses from Eugenie Hildebrandt (hbrandt@uwm.edu) and Cynthia Armstrong Persily (cynthiapersily@gmail.com)

A Middle Range Theory

“Community Empowerment is the involvement of lay workers

in the promotion of reciprocal health”

Eugenie Hildebrandt, PhD, RN, APRN-BCCynthia Armstrong Persily, PhD, RN, FAAN

A Report by: Eunice Aimee R. Laxamana

THE COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT

THEORY

eumee0125@gmail.com

The Theory

Basis – “improving the health of people rests in programs

that enable active participation of the members of the

community to take responsibility for their own health.

Purpose – “provide a framework for interventions at

individual and community levels”

Concepts

Community Involvement – linking of people to identify

needs, resources, and barriers

Lay Workers – trained persons who share backgrounds with

persons in the community.

Reciprocal Health – actualization of inherent and acquired

human potential.

Propositions

Health care professionals facilitate involvement when

they share information and control with the community

residents

Lay workers’ knowledge of community resources and

values and first hand life experiences enable them to

reach out to families not easily accessible to outsiders

The Community Empowerment TheoryThe Origin of the Theory

Reciprocal Health emerges when professionals and

community residents work together, thereby

magnifying the potential for participants to manage

their own health.

Evaluation

Clarity – semantically &structurally clear

Simplicity – simple with three concepts

Generality – applies to a broad array of health care

situations

Empirical Precision – well supported by empirical

evidence

Accessibility – concepts can be empirically tested though

there is no standardized outcome evaluation

Importance – can be used to hasten achievement of MDGs

Strengths - user-friendly, straightforward, optimistic

influence on the community people involved, pro-active

participation

Limitations – broadness of “empowerment”, special

training needed, the line between health care and the

community members is difficult to draw, the motivation

of the community

Community Empowerment is fostered by the interaction or involvement of community lay

health workers, and community people, in the promotion of health in the community.

Dr. Eugenie Hildebrandt, RN, PhD, APRN-BC

Associate Professor, EmeritaUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

BS – George Mason University, West VirginiaMSN – University of Wisconsin, Madison, WisconsinPhD – University of

Worked with Black Africans in South Africa for 3 Years during the Apartheid Era and developed a conceptual model based on the idea of WHO CIH to use as a guide to empower the community.

Dr. Cynthia Persily, RN, PhD, FAAN

Chief Executive Officer, Highlands Hospital Association, Inc., Charleston, West Virginia

BSN –University of Stroudsburg, PennsylvaniaMSN – University of PennsylvaniaPhD – University of Worked in Pennsylvania as a nurse specialist in

transitional care of mothers and hypothesized that the use of lay people may be an effective way of providing low-cost yet equally effective care. She tested this hypothesis when she moved to West Virginia with the help of Dr. Hildebrandt’s Conceptual Model.