Use of Empowerment In Nursing Education

What Is Empowerment Nursing Education

    Spreitzer
(1995) defines empowerment as an interpersonal factor that involves
motivational and cognitive processes such as finding meaning in one’s role,
feeling self efficacious to engage in the role, perceiving oneself as
self-determined, and feeling as though one’s contributions to the work
environment have an impact. Conger and Kanungo (1988) defined empowerment as a
motivational construct where individuals engage in behaviors that enable or
enhance another person’s belief in their abilities to achieve goals, engage in
decision making find meaning in their work, and work with a sense of autonomy
within bureaucratic constraints. 

    Bradbury Jones, Sambrook , and Irvine (2007)
define student empowerment in the practice setting as being envisioned on a
continuum of more or less empowerment in terms of feeling understood, being
respected and included, and being encouraged to learn. However, empowerment
results from mentorship, placement continuity, and sufficient and quality time
in practice. When these antecedents are available, then student outcomes can
include strong self-esteem, a drive for learning, and an interest in the
placement setting (Bradbury-Jones, Sambrook , & Irvine, 2007). 

    This
definition of empowerment evolved to being composed of knowledge and confidence
as core structures, with influencing extrinsic spheres (such as being valued as
a team member, learner, and person; having a supportive mentor; practicing in a
placement that included a positive culture; and social and political factors
that enabled empowerment to occur) impacting students’ development of
empowerment (Bradbury Jones, Irvine, & Sambrook , 2010).

Implementation of Empowerment In Nursing Education

    Studies
with nurses and nurse managers in the practice context have been linked to
psychological empowerment, decreased incivility and burnout ( Laschinger , Grau
, Finegan , & Wilk , 2010), increased organizational citizenship (Gilbert,
Laschinger , & Leiter , 2010); increased recruitment and retention (
Laschinger , Leiter , Day, & Gilin , 2009 and patient satisfaction (Purdy,
Laschinger , Finegan , Kerr, & Olivera , 2010). 

    Clinical instructor and
student empowerment have been associated with student self efficacy in acute
care settings ( Babenko  Mould , Iwasiw , Andrassy, Laschinger , & Weston,
2012), Structural empowerment was associated with psychological empowerment
among students in a problem based.learning program;Psychological empowerment
was positively associated with mentoring quality and job satisfaction and
negatively related to job stress among nursing faculty (Chung & Kowalski,
2012), Empowerment was positively associated with teachers’ perceptions of
their own use of empowering teaching behaviors and students’ perceptions of
those same behaviors ( Babenko Mould et al, 2012) Student empowerment was evident
when practice environments consisted of a positive culture and where mentoring
relationships supported students’ knowledge and confidence (Bradbury Jones et
al., 2010).

Outcomes of Empowerment In Nursing Education

    A
foundational concept analysis of the term empowerment has resulted in the term
being conceptualized from an organizational, personal development, and
emancipator perspective ( Kuokkanen & Leino Kilpi , 2000, 2007). According
to Kanter’s (1977, 1993) theory of structural power in organizations, power
relates to an individual’s ability to achieve goals by mobilizing human and
material resources. To do so, individuals need to have informal and formal
power ( Kanter , 1993). Informal power results from connections in the
organization such as peers, employees, and mentors, Formal power is developed
as a result of being engaged in a role that provides autonomy and flexibility
to support feelings of being central and relevant to the organization. 

    When
individuals have formal and informal power, they are more likely to have access
to empowering structures to help them achieve organizational goals. The
structures include supports, resources, information, and opportunities to
develop and learn.Research
findings demonstrate that empowerment has been applied to student and faculty
populations in both the classroom and practice-based context. Empowerment has
been assessed from the organizational, personal development, and emancipator perspectives. Empowerment of self and others intersects among social, cultural,
and political factors and appears to be instrumental in student professional
development as well as a possible influencing factor in nurse educators’
intentions to remain in the role.

Benefits for Both Students and Educators

    Educators
and students need to have a strong sense of empowerment, including how empowerment
impacts practice and learning processes. When nurse educators develop and
implement empowering teaching behaviors, students tend to envision that person
as a role model and incorporate those behaviors in a similar way of being into
their own sense of self as a soon-to-be nurse (Babenko Mould et al , 2012).
Integrating the concept of empowerment into nursing education could support the
enactment of empowerment as a core element of practice in academic and in
professional practice settings.