Like all new concepts that are too casually added to the lexicon,
empowerment has been criticized, especially as an intervention. A
typical contention of these criticisms is that empowerment is merely
fancy vocabulary for keeping the balance of power and control in the
hands of health professionals, serving to maintain the status quo
(Grace, 1991). As Skelton (1995) put it:
“Empowerment” is about getting you to come round to awayof behaving
that I, the expert, knew in advance was good for you, whilst encouraging
you to think that changing your behavior was your idea in the
first place. (p. 417)
Grace (1991) pointed out parallels between the vocabulary of empowerment
and that of management and of marketing, two professions
where inequality in power and control is the norm. Rafael (1995) also
advised that empowerment interventions divorced from Freire’s
(1970) key components of the empowerment process—critical consciousness
(reflection) and simultaneous action—are “simply a
facade for old control strategies” (p. 29). All nurses who use the term
empowerment need to carefully ponder its philosophical underpinnings,
their motivation for its use, and their willingness to share their
power and control.
In summary, family empowerment, as a nursing intervention for
families of children with a chronic health condition, is defined here as
an interactive process between the nurse and the family that facilitates
recognizing, promoting, and enhancing the family’s ability to
meet their needs, solve their problems, and mobilize appropriate resources
to satisfy the health care needs of their affected child and to
preserve their family life (adapted from Gibson, 1991). This definition
incorporates the key components of empowerment: gaining (or regaining)
power and control through reflection and action by the family
collectively in the context of the health care system and the
community.