Empowerment as fostering positive youth development and citizenship.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a theoretical framework of youth empowerment in the context of a participatory community health promotion intervention, a longitudinal qualitative study was conducted.


METHODS
Individual and group interviews, documents, and observations were analyzed using the constant comparative method and theoretical sampling.


RESULTS
Practitioners created an environment conducive to adolescents' taking responsibility for their quality-of-life issues by welcoming and enabling youth. Power was transferred to youth as responsibility for voicing, decision making, and action. This led to positive changes in youth development and their social integration into community.


CONCLUSIONS
Empowerment emerged as a transactional partnering process between adults and youth.
Margaret Cargo, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal & Culture, and Mental Health Research Unit, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. margaret.cargo@umontreal.ca
Margaret
M
Cargo
Garry D
GD
Grams
Judith M
JM
Ottoson
Patricia
P
Ward
Lawrence W
LW
Green
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D012649:Self Concept; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires