Do nurses feel empowered? Nurses' assessments of their own qualities and performance with regard to nurse empowerment

Empowerment ideology has been adopted increasingly as one conceptual framework for the development of nursing care, training, and management. The present article examines a quantitative study (n = 416) on critical care, long-term care, and public health nurses' views over their personal qualities and performance in relation to an ideal model of nurse empowerment. The results obtained provide strong evidence that nurses do have a positive image of their own empowerment. There was only slight variation between different groups of nurses. Length of working history and employment status (permanent/temporary) correlated highly with empowerment. The ideal model seems to depict nurse empowerment relatively well. It might be feasible to develop these concepts further so as to obtain a tool for the enhancement of professional competence, nursing education, and personnel management. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.