What is already known about this topic
• Empowerment is a positive concept that suggests competency
in negotiating and expressing need to fellow
human beings and is closely associated with decisionmaking,
choice, authority, knowledge and experience.
• Most empirical studies of empowerment in nursing
focus on Registered Nurses.
• Bullying within nursing has a negative effect on both
Registered Nurses and nursing students.
What this paper adds
• Clinical placements that foster learning, team membership
and reduce horizontal violence empower nursing
students.
• Low self-esteem, despondency and a desire to leave
nurse education are the consequences of disempowerment
for nursing students.
• Mentors are important in fostering nursing student
empowerment and they need to be supported to
undertake this role effectively