Psychometric properties of an empowerment scale: Testing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral domains

Empowerment has become an important goal for social workers in policy and direct practice domains. The purpose of this study was to test a measure of empowerment at an individual level of analysis that tapped cognitive, emotional, and behavioral dimensions in community-organizing contexts. This article reports the psychometric properties of a 27-item scale from a sample of 974 randomly selected people. The applicability of this measure is broad, but modifications need to be made on the basis of the variety of social work settings in which empowerment may be applied. Key words: community participation; construct validity; empowerment; measurement; social change Empowerment has become a major framework for social work research and practice. The breadth of its application includes ethnic minority groups (Gant & Gutierrez, 1996; Gilliam, 1996; Gutierrez, 1990, 1995; Gutierrez & Ortega, 1991), social policy (Zippay, 1995), health (Ford, Edwards, Rodriquez, Gibson, & Tilley, 1996; LaVeist, 1992), community organizing (Robinson & Hanna, 1994; Speer & Hughey, 1995; Speer, Hughey, Gensheimer, & Adams-Leavitt, 1995), mental health (McCubbin & Cohen, 1996; McWhirter, 1991; Rose, 1990), and sexual orientation (Mallon, 1997; Morrow, 1996). Although the breadth and volume of empowerment studies is impressive, social workers have few measures of the construct. This article reports on the development of an empowerment measure applicable to one area of social work practice: community organizing. Assessments of both content validity and construct validity are presented. Measurement development is a time-intensive process and requires careful articulation of the construct and its related terms (Rubin & Babbie, 1993). To develop a measure of empowerment, a definition of the term is important. Empowerment is defined by Gutierrez (1990) as "a process of increasing personal, interpersonal, or political power so that individuals can take action to improve their life situations" (p. 149). Embedded in this definition is an issue critical for empowerment research: the level of analysis at which the construct is conceptualized. Gutierrez (1990) noted that empowerment can be considered at the macro level, which attends to political and objective change; the micro level, which focuses on individual or personal change; and a blend of the first two approaches. Elsewhere, Zimmerman (1995) addressed levels of analysis by describing empowerment as occurring at individual, organizational, and community levels. Beyond the level of analysis at which empowerment is conceptualized, the context in which empowerment interventions unfold necessarily involves an interface of individual, organizational, or community levels (McWhirter, 1991). Although social work addresses each of these levels in practice, Pinderhughes (1983) identified individual empowerment as a major goal of social work interventions. Social work research, therefore, has an interest in measuring empowerment at an individual level of analysis. It is important that measures reflect an understanding of how empowerment operates at broader units of analysis. MEASUREMENT DEVELOPMENT This measure was designed for a community-organizing context and developed in conjunction with a community-organizing coalition. The coalition was working on substance abuse prevention at the time of this study. Organizing activities engaged in by the coalition included community clean-ups, picnics, and block watches, as well as distribution of grants to stimulate prevention programs. Specific issues addressed by this coalition, often in collaboration with the police, included crime prevention, reducing youths' access to alcohol, promoting alternative activities for youths (recreation), and preventing sales of illegal drugs. In a community-organizing context, a measure of empowerment at an individual level of analysis should reflect a critical awareness and understanding of community functioning (cognitive), feelings about one's competence or ability to effect change in the community (emotional), and participatory activities focused on social change in community contexts (behavioral). …