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Question: I had the pleasure of being introduced to Community Psychology and meeting a number of SCRA members at the recent biennial. Since returning home, I have been exploring the literature on a number of issues, one of which is empowerment. My question is whether anyone can recommend specific measures of empowerment that I could obtain and hopefully adapt for use in international development work in rural communities of Nepal. Any advice on/references to specific instruments would be much appreciated! Best, marcia
Answer: Since empowerment ultimately means access to and control over resources, the extent to which the community actually obtains more power is what should be measured. However, if you're looking for "psychological" empowerment at the individual level, you should look at work by M. Zimmerman. Use the terms "measure" and "empowerment" in your search of the literature.
Question Date: Thu, 06/30/2011