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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Kaori Fujishiro1, Catherine A Heaney, PhD, MPH1, and A. Celeste Burke, PhD, MSW2. (1) School of Public Health, Ohio State University, 320 W. 10th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, 614-293-9136, fujishiro.1@osu.edu, (2) College of Social Work, The Ohio State Univeristy, 1947 College Road, Columbus, OH 43210
The social work, counseling psychology, and health education literatures have emphasized the importance of empowering clients to make progress toward health-promoting goals. However, there has been little consensus about what empowerment means in the context of formal helping relationships. This study empirically examines the nature of empowering practice among case managers who serve severely mentally ill adults. Seventeen behaviors that reflect key concepts of empowering practice were identified through a review of the literature and through semi-structured interviews with case managers. This information was then used to develop items for a self-administered questionnaire that asked about the extent to which case managers engage in these different behaviors during their interactions with clients. 275 case managers in Ohio completed the survey. An exploratory factor analysis extracted four correlated factors. Establishing an affective relationship characterized by interpersonal warmth, liking, and friendliness forms the basis for empowering practice. Collaboration involves the sharing of information and the creation of opportunities for two-way communication between case managers and their clients. The third factor is client self-determination and involves supporting clients' choices regardless of the case managers' judgment. The fourth factor is self-disclosure, which focuses on case managers sharing information about their own lives. This last factor was not related to the collaboration or client self-determination factors. These findings clarify the structure of empowering case management practice and can provide a valuable framework for the development of case manager training. Future research should examine the relationship between these four components of empowering practice and client outcomes.
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.