Assessing psychological health and empowerment in women: the Personal Progress Scale Revised.
Empowerment is a primary outcome of many health interventions with women. Typical outcome measures, however focus exclusively on specific symptoms, neglecting the clinically important attitudes and behaviors associated with increased empowerment and well-being. Empowerment is conceptualized as enabling women to access skills and resources to cope more effectively with current as well as future stress and trauma. This study investigated a new measure of personal empowerment in women, the Personal Progress Scale-Revised (PPS-R). Results suggest that the PPS-R is a promising measure of empowerment in women, demonstrating excellent reliability and validity in diverse sample of women. Additionally, the PPS-R demonstrated preliminary utility with a subgroup of abused women, a vulnerable group of women for whom empowerment is a variable of high importance.
Johnson
Dawn M
DM
Summa-Kent State Center for the Treatment and Study of Traumatic Stress, Akron, OH, 44310, USA. johnsod@summahealth.org
Worell
Judith
J
Chandler
Redonna K
RK
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D016387:Women's Health