We are investigating ways to empower Sri Lankan farmers through a technology-based intervention to enhance their livelihood activities. Using empowerment theory and related concepts, we have created a conceptual model of psychological empowerment and identified a person’s level of empowerment as a reflection of their sense of control, self-efficacy, competence and motivation. We interviewed 50 ...

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is a catalyst to enhance the level of community empowerment – with this motivation, this paper reports on a research study on “Community Empowerment Through ICTs: Evidence from Grassroots in Bangladesh and India”. The evidence from an early benchmark study from Bangladesh shows that ICT penetration on its own is not proportionately related with c...

Although participation and empowerment are hallmarks of the WHO vision of health promotion, it is acknowledged that they are difficult to evaluate. Devising adequate study designs, indicators and methods for the assessment of participation and empowerment should consider the experiences, concerns and constraints of health promotion practitioners. The aim of this study was to investigate health ...

Women's empowerment has become a focal point for development efforts worldwide and there is a need for an updated, critical assessment of the existing evidence on women's empowerment and fertility. We conducted a literature review on studies examining the relationships between women's empowerment and several fertility-related topics. Among the 60 studies identified for this review, the majority...

Empowerment is an important and desirable state for employees within business enterprises around the world. Yet, the pursuit of empowerment across national boundaries may vary due to innate diferences within cultures. This may be particularly true with respect to choice of technologies for achieving empowerment. Using an interpretive field study of Fellows within the Japanese MITI and U.S. Depa...

There is growing interest in understanding of how User-Generated Content (UGC) empowers online consumer behavior. In this paper, we explore the relationships between Consumer Empowerment and Perceived Control (mediated by Self-Efficacy) over the decision making process using UGC. The results of this study reveal that Perceived Control has an influence on intention to use UGC. The findings also ...

OBJECTIVE E-health may enable the empowerment process for patients, particularly the chronically ill. However, e-health is not always designed with the requirements of patient empowerment in mind. Drawing on evidence-based e-health studies, we propose directions for best practices to develop e-health that promotes patient empowerment. METHODS The concept of patient empowerment in the Dutch se...

BACKGROUND In recent years, interventions and health policy programmes have been established to promote patient empowerment, with a particular focus on patients affected by long-term conditions. However, a clear definition of patient empowerment is lacking, making it difficult to assess effectiveness of interventions designed to promote it. The aim in this study was to develop a conceptual map ...

My purpose in writing this piece is to reflect upon a series of conversations in which I participated on the subject of empowerment over the past year. I believe that empowerment is key to innovation. For me, the essential aspect of the paper is my personal attempt to sort out why it is that employers, service providers and governments say they want to but do not reliably create empowerment in ...

Long before the word `empowerment’ became popular, women were speaking about gaining control over their lives, and participating in making the decisions that affect them in home and community, in government and international development policies. But problem is, very few have clear conception on empowerment. This is very easy to say but difficult to understand what is empowerment? This article ...