Empowerment processes in shelters for battered women

Abstract

Three major dimensions of the empowerment process are identified (actors, goals, guidelines for practice) through a review of the literature on the practice of empowerment. Subsequently, empowerment is formally defined as a process in which a more powerful actor, A, makes resources available to a less powerful actor, B, that would otherwise be unavailable, actor B uses those resources, and change results. A theoretical model based on this definition is developed which specifies that resources are made available through the implementation of any or all of five empowerment strategies by agents of empowerment. The validity of these ideas is explored in a study of shelters for battered women. Multiple methods are used to assess manifestation of empowermment strategies and change experienced by residents. The data indicate that all five empowerment strategies are implemented, and that shelter residents experience both structural and developmental change. Issues relating to changes in the theoretical model as a result of the study are discussed, and suggestions for future research are given, along with propositions and hypotheses to guide that research.