A conceptual exploration of psychological empowerment with older people. A tailored concept mapping approach

Abstract

Empowerment is central in gerontological social work. Operationalizing empowerment from the perspective of the target population is important to align with context specific interpretations of what empowerment means. This study aims at operationalizing psychological empowerment from the per-spective of older people. A design was chosen that is based on the concept mapping method, though tailored to accommo-date the specific principles we assume in empowerment research and to align with target specific conditions that come to play with older persons. The results show an empowerment with 58 statements divided over four components of empower-ment; emotional, cognitive, relational and behavioural component.