APPLICATION

Practice
-in the govt health sectors program
on the eradication of DHF where
Sanitary Inspectors are the Health
Professionals and BHWs are the lay
persons.
Research
-Community Based Perinatal Care
for Disadvantaged Adolescents:
Evaluation of the Resource Mothers
Program
Education
-enhancing the awareness of
students to theory in practice (RLE),
will give direction to their care and
advance their understanding in
theory-based practice
REFERENCES
Fitzpatrick, J. and Wallace, M.. Encyclopedia of Nursing Research.
2006. Springer Publishing, New York.

Hildebrandt, E. An Example from Africa. 1996. IMAGE: Journal of
Nursing Scholarship.

Hildebrandt, E. and Persily, C.A. . The Community Empowerment
Theory. 2008. Springer Publishing, New York.

Liehr, P. and Smith M.. Middle-Range Theories in Nursing, Second
Edition. 2008. Springer Publishing. New York

E-mail responses from Eugenie Hildebrandt (hbrandt@uwm.edu) and
Cynthia Armstrong Persily (cynthiapersily@gmail.com)

A Middle Range Theory

Community Empowerment is the
involvement of lay workers
in the promotion of reciprocal health

Eugenie Hildebrandt, PhD, RN, APRN-BC
Cynthia Armstrong Persily, PhD, RN, FAAN


A Report by: Eunice Aimee R. Laxamana

THE COMMUNITY
EMPOWERMENT
THEORY
eumee0125@gmail.com

The Theory

Basis improving the health of people rests in programs
that enable active participation of the members of the
community to take responsibility for their own health.
Purpose provide a framework for interventions at
individual and community levels
Concepts

Community I nvolvement linking of people to identify
needs, resources, and barriers
Lay Workers trained persons who share backgrounds with
persons in the community.
Reciprocal Health actualization of inherent and acquired
human potential.
Propositions

Health care professionals facilitate involvement when
they share information and control with the community
residents
Lay workers knowledge of community resources and
values and first hand life experiences enable them to
reach out to families not easily accessible to outsiders
The Community Empowerment Theory
The Origin of the
Theory
Reciprocal Health emerges when professionals and
community residents work together, thereby
magnifying the potential for participants to manage
their own health.

Evaluation
Clarity semantically &structurally clear
Simplicity simple with three concepts
Generality applies to a broad array of health care
situations
Empirical Precision well supported by empirical
evidence
Accessibility concepts can be empirically tested though
there is no standardized outcome evaluation
I mportance can be used to hasten achievement of MDGs
Strengths - user-friendly, straightforward, optimistic
influence on the community people involved, pro-active
participation
Limitations broadness of empowerment, special
training needed, the line between health care and the
community members is difficult to draw, the motivation
of the community


Community Empowerment is fostered by the interaction or involvement of community lay
health workers, and community people, in the promotion of health in the community.
Dr. Eugenie Hildebrandt, RN, PhD,
APRN-BC
Associate Professor, Emerita
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
BS George Mason University,
West Virginia
MSN University of Wisconsin,
Madison, Wisconsin
PhD University of Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, South Africa
Worked with Black Africans in South Africa for 3 Years
during the Apartheid Era and developed a conceptual
model based on the idea of WHO CIH to use as a guide
to empower the community.
Dr. Cynthia Persily, RN, PhD, FAAN
Chief Executive Officer, Highlands
Hospital Association, Inc.,
Charleston, West Virginia
BSN University of Stroudsburg,
Pennsylvania
MSN University of Pennsylvania
PhD University of Pennsylvania
Worked in Pennsylvania as a nurse specialist in
transitional care of mothers and hypothesized that the
use of lay people may be an effective way of providing
low-cost yet equally effective care. She tested this
hypothesis when she moved to West Virginia with the
help of Dr. Hildebrandts Conceptual Model.